A Change of Heart (adopted from SierLeAn)
by Alexandria Silvertongue
Summary: Sonic is the happy-go-lucky, free as the wind, rightfully (in my opinion) arrogant hedgehog while Shadow is the Ultimate Life Form; a dark knight with a tragic past. What if it was different though? What if it was Sonic with the tragic past and Shadow had managed to escape with both Maria and Gerald?
1. Chapter 1 - Their Beginnings

**This was once SierLeAn's story, but I have adopted it from the author and have full permission to publish it. We have already discussed about the story between us and I will try to keep this as close as possible to SierLeAn's thought-out plotline, as promised.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog or any character involved in this story unless it is an OC.**

* * *

Chapter 1 – Their Beginnings

Sonic

He ran through the halls of his mansion-slash-vacation home, searching for someone; his siblings, his parents, hell, even the snooty maid would do, just so he could confirm that someone was alive.

And if that person was alive, then the others just had to be. He could barely remember what had gone wrong - all he could remember was searching for his mother before there were the sounds of screams and water rushing rapidly into the building.

He knew it was a bad idea to put the mansion so close to the ocean, especially in an area known for its rough weather that tended to make the sea look as if it was trying to swallow the land in one gulp.

He also knew that it was that stupid War Dictator Julian Robotnik who had suggested the vacation. It was his fault that his family might be-

'NO!' he thought, refuting that possibility with all of his heart. 'They're perfectly fine! Everyone's probably outside already and I'm worrying over nothing…'

Something deep inside him told him otherwise…

He came to a sudden stop when he reached the doors of the family room. He could hear the sound of swishing water inside, but he threw caution to the wind and yanked the door open. Immediately, a wave of water rushed out and knocked him down, filling his mouth and nose.

Coughing and sputtering, he sat up, shaking his head to get rid of the water clogging his nose and mouth. With that done, he opened his eyes and froze. In front of him was the body of his big sister Sonia, the forever-annoying sister that he would not replace for anything.

And said body was not moving.

The blue hedgehog knelt at her side, pushing her onto her back. He searched for a pulse or a breath, but to his horror, there was nothing. In a panic, he tried CPR like his mother insisted on teaching him. He even tried mouth-to-mouth, pushing the thoughts of disgust to the furthest corner of his mind – he was trying to save his sister for gods' sake – but nothing worked.

'No… NO! SONIA, PLEASE WAKE UP!' he pleaded, his mouth moving to form the words, but no sound came out. He wanted to scream, shout, anything, but he could not get the words out.

However, even if he got his voice out, he knew inside that it was no use. Sonia was gone…for good.

He slowly got up, tears trailing down his peach-furred cheeks. He knew he was too late, as much as he wanted to fiercely deny it. Now, he could only try to find the others, then give her a proper burial, one that they had all wanted and deserved.

Taking a shaky breath, he hesitated for a brief moment before entering the family room and immediately regretting it.

His older brother, Manic, was sprawled out near the fireplace, his mother was lying half off the couch and his father was slumped at the wall near the small wine rack. All of them were completely still like Sonia.

The youngest of the family stared in horror, not noticing that he started hyperventilating, that he had collapsed to his knees or that his streams of tears had turned into waterfalls. All he could see were his family, lying dead around the room.

Among the confusion and grief clouding his mind, there was just one thought that seemed to be from another entity, but also him at the same time.

"It's all Robotnik's fault. HE killed them. HE WILL PAY!'

When Sonic was finally able to stop crying, it was when he heard the frantic calls outside. Someone had finally been able to get to the house, most likely the royal guard. He could hear their footsteps rapidly approaching the family room.

Not a moment later, a handful of guards barged into the room, calling out for the royal family. They abruptly stopped when they saw the family lying still in various parts of the room and the only survivor kneeling on the ground with a tear-soaked muzzle.

Among the ones to come was Sonic's own uncle, Sir Charles, King Jules' brother. Upon seeing Sonic, he immediately shooed the guards away and ran to his nephew's side, bringing the ten-year-old into a comforting embrace.

"W-Why U-uncle Ch-Chuck?" the smaller hedgehog asked as he buried his face into his uncle's uniform.

The older hedgehog sighed. "I don't know why Sonic…" he murmured, stroking Sonic's back in an attempt to comfort the distraught hedgehog. "I don't know why…"

Later, his family had finally been removed and taken to get ready for the funeral, one that would be very private with only family friends. Sonic had insisted harshly on the matter and even told them that in his parents' will, it was written that all family members, including the children, would be granted a small funeral with only close friends attending the event.

And Sonic silently vowed to make the funeral peaceful. If any fakes tried to enter, he would personally see to their departure.

He told this to some reporters and snotty aristocrats and when his seriousness was questioned, he just bared his teeth in a growl and flexed his razor sharp quills. It was very convincing, no matter his young age.

Things went down the drain after the funeral was held.

Sonic hated Julian Robotnik at first sight. The man never did anything bad, but Sonic always sensed the fake tone in his voice, how his smile always told of secrets that no one would be happy about knowing, and how his red-on-black eyes glowed with malicious intent.

But now, Sonic hated him even more.

Just after his parents' death, the war lord had sent a broadcast over the whole kingdom and put on an over-dramatic show about how awful it was to lose the royal family; how they would be dearly missed. He never once mentioned the fact that Sonic had survived – probably trying to get the people to believe that he was dead with the others.

Then, the man nominated himself as the new ruler, and as soon as he did, the streets were swarming with large imposing robots. They captured anyone who resisted Robotnik's rule and put fear into others to ensure that there would be no rebels. The resisters were sent to a machine that changed their very DNA and took their will, morphing the once living, breathing, feeling beings into metal husks. With such threats made real, everyone was forced to surrender to the madman.

After that, news spread of the similar defeat of the Acorn Kingdom; Mobotropolis' sister city ruled by King Maximillian Acorn. Robotnik had yet to rule any other major kingdoms, but by then, he pretty much ruled the world. And with the kingdoms he conquered, he took anyone strong or important enough to stand a chance against him prisoner.

That included Sir Charles, Sonic's uncle and the last of his family.

That was also the last straw for the ten-year-old. With his mind clouded with rage and grief, he went into the city and destroyed as much of Robotnik's stuff as he could before running far from the former Mobotropolis, now Robotropolis. He did not even notice it when he ran across the ocean, breaking the sound barrier and coming across a small island.

He finally collapsed in a small forest and passed out from the stress and tiredness, oblivious to the color of his fur and eyes as they returned to their original vibrant cobalt and bright emerald, having darkened to navy blue and forest green in his fit of rage.

* * *

Shadow

Fifty years ago on the Space Colony ARK

'Damn it! Of all the times we have to get lost, it has to be now!' Shadow thought with a growl as he and Maria raced through the metal halls of the ARK. They had been in the lab, giving Maria the final dose for her cure, when the alarms blared and the sounds of gunshots and screams echoed through the doors.

The professor had told the two to find the escape pods while he saved all the research on a disk and destroyed the originals so that no one could take them. He told them that he would meet them there, but in the frenzy, the two had gotten lost and were slowed down by Maria's still-weak body.

"Shadow!" Maria suddenly called out. The black-and-red hedgehog turned his head slightly to look at her. "The dorms are over there! The escape pods are at the end of the hall!"

Nodding in acknowledgement, Shadow turned the corner where the bedrooms were located, and sure enough, the room with the escape pods were right at the end of the hall. However, the scene in front of the room stopped them in their tracks.

Gerald had already gotten there, but so had a few of the soldiers. One of them had Gerald at gun-point. The sight made Shadow let out a feral cry as he jumped into the fray.

Bullets flew at the black-and-red hedgehog, but Shadow dodged them with his speed and knocked down the soldiers with a few swift kicks. He did not kill them though; the Kintobors had taught him better.

A feminine cry of pain drew his attention away and a soldier knocked him down in his haste to escape. The hedgehog returned the favor and turned towards the scream. One of the soldiers had managed to clip Maria's side, knocking down the weak girl.

Rushing over, the hedgehog helped the girl up and rushed over to one of the escape pods, quickly followed by Gerald after he set the launch sequence. Shadow held Maria tightly against him as the pod's hatch closed, shielding her as if the soldiers appearing in the doorway could still get her.

When the pod launched, he curled around her as much as he could, feeling Gerald do the same to the both of them. They braced themselves as the container shook violently, sailing through space and quickly entering Earth's atmosphere.

As the pod fell to Earth, a mechanical voice sounded, "Cryostasis initiated. Emergency landing codes activated."

They all knew what that meant; they were going to be put into suspended animation – a safety protocol – and the pod was going to land in an area Gerald had preset for emergencies. Only the professor knew where the places were and he had not saved them on any kind of hard-drive; he had them all in his memory so that no one would know about the locations.

"Shadow, I'm scared…"

Crimson eyes peered into soft blue. Shadow did not say a word. He merely held her closer and hummed a lullaby she once sang for him when he was a pup, fresh out of the test tube for a lack of better words.

As their world went dark, the three knew they would be alright, because they had each other.

* * *

 **Alex: And that's that.**

 **Sonic: YOU FREAKING KILLED MY WHOLE FAMILY AND TOOK AWAY THE ONLY FAMILY MEMBER I HAVE LEFT!**

 **Alex: It's not me who did it; it is Julian Robotnik, so blame him, not me.**

 **Sonic: YOU are the one who wrote it!**

 **Alex: Again, not me. This is SierLeAn's idea. I just adopted it with full permission. Don't worry; I will make it up in other fanfictions I write about you. In addition to that, I give you this paper that proclaims that whoever signs it will have rights to a ten-year supply of chili dogs.**

 **Sonic: I'LL TAKE IT! *Grabs the paper and rushes out in a blue blur* Chili dogs, HERE I COME!**

 **Shadow: *Sighs* Idiot Faker.**

 **Alex: Oh shut up. You should understand him; he is now experiencing what you have in your original plot. He's going to be a bit negative for a while... Anyway, please review! I will be happy to know your opinions about my stories.**


	2. Chapter 2 - The First Chaos

**A/N: Hey there! Now, first of all, I would like to apologize for disappearing for a long time. I just lost the Sonic hype and moved onto Naruto. But now that I'm back, I'll be working on this fanfiction once again. Right now, I'll be editing all the chapters (most of them at least) to get a good feel and remind myself of what I'm doing. Now, this is the edited version of Chapter 2, hope you'll enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer: 'Heads over to SEGA and gets down on knees'. Oh mighty creators, may you be willing to share (or better yet, give me) the ownership of your wonderful creations? 'Gets struck down to hell' Maybe not...**

* * *

Chapter 2 – The First Chaos

The city of Robotropolis. It used to be a beautiful place called Mobotropolis, dedicated to peace and the arts.

Now, it was tainted to the root. Robots swarmed the city. Pollution seeped all the way into the ground and choked the life out of nature. It was a devastating sight, one that brought pain and anger to the blue speedster's heart.

 _'_ _That madman will fall, one way or another, even if I have to blow up one factory at a time,'_ Sonic thought as he set up the explosives with a vindictive smirk. The factory he was currently planning to blow up was one that manufactured parts for the robots. Lately, these factories hadn't been as heavily guarded as before, so it was almost too easy sneaking in and getting out.

 _'_ _If only Sal would let me, I could probably blow dozens of these a day! The security is rather pathetic these days…'_ Sonic frowned at that thought, finding it extremely suspicious now that he looked at it. _'Why?'_

"Sonic? Are you there?"

At the soft voice calling him from his communicator watch, he broke out of his thoughts and brought his wrist up close. "Yeah. I'm here."

"Have you finished your-?"

"I have," Sonic interrupted, his hasty nature showing through. "I'll be out in just a few seconds. Meet you at the rendezvous point." Without even a goodbye, he cut off the connection and set up the final explosive.

 _'_ _Goodbye factory, hello explosion.'_

With that, the blue hedgehog sprinted away.

* * *

The explosions were beautiful.

Sonic watched in satisfaction as the factories were gobbled up in hungry flames. Alarms blared loudly and robots were scurrying about, trying to fix the damage. It would be too late though. Judging by the piles of black soot, the robots would be lucky if they even managed to salvage enough.

"We got to go Sonic." A chipmunk with blue eyes and red hair stood next to the blue hedgehog. "The surveillance bots will be here any minute now."

"Yeah, yeah, Sal, I'm on it." Sonic grabbed onto her hand and pulled her up bridal style. Sally sighed and just grabbed on tightly without much convincing, already knowing that Sonic wouldn't stop to warn her.

She did it in time too, as Sonic dashed off for the Great Forest.

* * *

"Sugar hog! How did it go?"

"Fine," Sonic grunted before brushing past the half-roboticized rabbit. "Where's Tails? Have you seen him?"

As if those were the magic words, a familiar child-like voice called out. "I'm here!" A two-tailed fox mobian trotted up to the hedgehog, grinning widely. "Sonic! Did you blow it up? Did you? Did you?" he asked with childish excitement.

Sonic's lips twitched slightly in the urge to smile. "The factory is toast! I bet'cha Robuttnik's face is probably so red that he would look as if he was going to explode too." The comparison made Tails shake with giggles.

"Sonic."

At Sally's call, Sonic glanced over his shoulder. His emerald eyes met brilliant blue, and the latter dimmed slightly when they only saw jaded green, devoid of any amusement from before.

"In a week or so, we'll be heading to the Great Canyon to meet the Wolf Pack for another attack-."

"Sure Sal, I'll be there," Sonic cut her off and turned back to Tails, missing the frown sketched on Sally's face. "Hey Tails, whatcha say to a run around the forest?"

Tails nodded so quickly that it was as if his head was a blur, and his grin was so wide it nearly split his face. "Sure thing, Sonic! Can I ride in your backpack?"

Sonic's eyes twinkled in a rare show of light-hearted mischief. "Sure…if you can catch me first!" Sonic sped off out of Knothole at a slower speed than usual.

"Hey, no fair! You got a head-start!"

Sally watched as the young fox dashed off after the speedy blue hedgehog. When they had disappeared from her line of sight, she let out a soft sigh. It was always bittersweet watching Sonic interact with Tails; sweet because of the rare affectionate bond between the two of them and bitter because it should have not just been Tails who received it.

 _'_ _I wish the old you was here,'_ she thought. She was usually business-like in most matters, but Sonic was her childhood friend. She remembered his carefree grin and prankster attitude. She remembered how his eyes, lighter in color back then, would dance and sparkle happily, ever so expressive and joyful.

Now…

A warm hand laid on her shoulder, and Sally glanced at its owner, Bunnie. The rabbit mobian was looking at the princess in worry and understanding. "I understand how ya feel, Sally girl, but ya have to understand, that incident changed the old sugar hog into this… He's not gonna open up to us about it soon though, except the little kit."

Sally took a deep breath. She could not afford to lose control over her emotions, not in front of others. She had to be strong, and she had to have faith. "I know Bunnie. I know…" She cleared her throat and changed the topic. "So, about the second attack… I was thinking…"

* * *

While these events were taking place in Knothole, trouble was brewing back in Robotropolis.

"That's the fifth factory destroyed this week!" Robotnik growled to himself. Five factories! That was enough to produce nearly a hundred of his robots, and to have them destroyed in a week, it was a painful blow to his black, twisted heart.

 _'_ _But it will all be worth it…_ ' Robotnik smiled, a sight that was more terrifying than anything ever seen _. 'Once I get my hands on 'it', those factories will be nothing more than a footnote. I will crush the Freedom Fighters with the power I will soon wield, and not even that blasted hedgehog will survive this!'_

He chuckled evilly as he looked at the monitors before him. The reason why his security was so low currently was because the robots usually guarding the places (and nearly two-quarters of his force) were busy somewhere else. The monitors displayed several locations: Great Canyon, Great Jungle, and more.

 _'_ _Soon, I will have all of 'them' in my hands, and then…NO ONE WILL STOP ME!'_

Mad laughter echoed about in Robotropolis, as its warlord schemed and planned, already seeing the future ahead of him.

* * *

Back at Knothole, Sonic was perching on top of the roof of his house, staring up at the night sky. Out here in the Great Forest, the skies were clearer, offering a faint glimpse of the stars. Every night, he would sit out here alone with his thoughts, and remember the dreadful past…

Now, Sonic was not usually the type to linger on regrets and preferred to look forward to the future, but that was not the case here. He was only five back then, and he had seen his entire family dead before his eyes. It was not long after that when Uncle Chuck was taken from him and probably roboticized.

Faces flashed across his eyes, all once so lively and full of health. They slowly turned dull and pale in death, and Sonic closed his eyes with a scowl on his face. An image of Robotnik came to his mind, and rage burned in his heart.

"He will pay for all he had done…" Sonic swore quietly to himself, with only nature as his witness. "Robotnik, the day of your reckoning WILL come…and I will be there to sent you to the underworld."

He took another look at the stars, and clenched his fist. _'Mom, Dad, Sonia, Manic, Uncle Chuck…I swear it. I will avenge you… Just wait a bit longer…'_

Inside his mind, in the darkest corners and deepest crevices, an entity stirred…

* * *

A week later, in Robotropolis

"Snively, you will hold down the fort while I personally head to the Great Canyon," Robotnik told his nephew as he boarded one of the transports. "IF that hedgehog comes again, do not let him escape. If he does…we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

"Y-Y-Yes sir!" Snively stuttered, literally shaking in his boots at the glare he received from Robotnik.

Satisfied with the reply, Robotnik turned back towards the transport and got in. His pet chicken Cluck hopped onto his hand. The warlord idly stroked the robotic chicken's head before turning to the SWATbot sitting in the driver's seat. "Get going."

The SWATbot followed the order and the transport rose up, followed by the rest. They then flew off towards their destination; Great Canyon.

* * *

And at the same moment, the group in Knothole were getting ready for their own trip.

"Here it comes, Tails," Sonic alerted the two-tailed fox, watching the lake below glow a soft golden color at one spot. Tails nodded eagerly and waited on the edge of the log.

A glowing gold ring slowly came out of the water, floating up into the air. Just as it was about to reach the log's height, Tails reached out and grabbed it. "I got it Sonic!"

"Nice work, big guy," Sonic praised, turning around so that Tails could pack the Power Ring into his red backpack. "You ready for this trip?"

"Sure am! I'm so excited that I can't sit still!" Tails replied, bouncing up and down in place with an excited look in his eyes. While he did know of the dangers that entailed with leaving Knothole, he could not help but look forward to helping his big-brother-figure, despite Sally's unvoiced disapproval.

Besides, like Sonic said, he was a big boy now; he could take care of himself, and Sonic was there to watch out for him even if the blue hedgehog did not say it out-loud.

* * *

"Everyone's here?" Sally asked as the Freedom Fighters grouped together, taking a mental roll-call. 'I'm here, so is Antoine and Bunnie, here comes Rotor and there is Tails, along with Sonic. Good, everyone's here now.'

Rotor replied to Sally's slightly rhetorical question, "We're here, Sal, and ready for the mission."

"Great. Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3 - Gem of Ultimate Power

**Alex: Here we are with another chapter of A Change of Heart.**

 **Alexia: You took longer than I thought with this.**

 **Alex: Projects. I hate them. I hate them very, very, very much, especially if I have to work in a team...**

 **Alexia: You hate work, even if you have good grades. What's up with that contrasting personality? At school, you're a freaking hard worker unless you're bone-tired, but at home, you're practically a sloth!**

 **Alex: That's the way I roll. No motivation or incentive equals to no work done. At school, there is enough motivation and I am in the mood to work.**

 **Alexia: I wish you can be that way at home too...**

 **Maia and Nyx: *Nod in agreement***

 **Alexia: Not you guys too!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, and this is SierLeAn's idea; I'm just continuing it. Also, thanks to SierLeAn for doing beta work of sorts!**

* * *

Chapter 3 - Gem of Ultimate Power

The Freedom Fighters made good time - they arrived at the Great Canyon within an hour and half. However, Robotnik had beaten them to the Canyon, and the group encountered a rather nasty surprise.

"Yikes!" Antoine yelped as the mobians scattered, dodging the rain of lasers headed their way. Sonic immediately took action, grabbing the French coyote and his two-tailed brother before dashing for cover. Sally and Rotor followed suit with Bunnie covering their backs.

They regrouped under the safety of a rock outcrop, temporarily hidden from the SWATbots. Sonic set Antoine and Tails down. "Tails, you go with Sally and the rest while I distract those SWATbutts Get to the Wolf Pack; I'll catch up when I'm done."

"Sonic, wait-" Before Sally could finish, Sonic was gone, running past the SWATbots.

"Yo, you overgrown tin cans, I'm here!" Sonic shouted, waving his arms around.

" _PRORITY ONE – HEDGEHOG_ ," the robots droned as they changed course and followed the speedster. As soon as they were away from the outcrop, Sally and the group ran for the entrance to the Wolf Pack while Sonic made a hairpin turn and curled up into a deadly ball of spines. Rotating head-over-heels, he was like a buzz-saw as he tore into the mass of robots.

Explosions bloomed all over in Sonic's wake, leaving behind heaps of scrap metal that were once the SWATbots. They were small, but not small enough to pass unnoticed by Robotnik.

"What was that?" the warlord asked himself, glaring at the direction of the sound. Turning towards his monitors, he pressed a button and the screens flashed, revealing a familiar blue hedgehog destroying his robots.

"WHAT?! WHAT IS THAT BLASTED HEDGEHOG DOING HERE?!" Robotnik roared, lava-hot anger boiling and bubbling up inside of him at the sight of his arch-nemesis. But among all of that anger was also a hint of fear.

'Does the hedgehog know about 'it'?! No, he can't! But...why else would he be out here...?' Robotnik thought, staring at the screens. 'What if...what if he finds it first?'

The mere thought of Sonic having even one of them in his hands brought another surge of anger and a shiver of fear through the mad scientist. 'No, he mustn't!' "Attention all units! Catch that hedgehog, dead or alive! Don't let him get near the dig site. And find his friends as well! Whatever you do, DO NOT let them NEAR the dig site!" he barked through the intercom while sending out the coordinates.

At once, all the robots scattered through the area stood up and headed towards Sonic's location. Robotnik watched as they swarmed quickly. 'That hedgehog must NOT get his hands on it...not now, not ever!'

* * *

Somewhere among the cliffs of the Great Canyon, a meeting was taking place. "It was unexpected," Lupe the wolf began, pacing restlessly in front of the Freedom Fighters and her own members. "We were preparing for the attack when a scout told us of Robotnik's arrival."

"He's here, in person?" Sally gasped, shocked at the prospect.

Lupe nodded gravely. Facing Robotnik's robots was one thing, but facing Robotnik personally was another. The madman was that; mad, and at times, unpredictable. They had to be on especially high guard with him so close to the Wolf Pack's headquarters.

"Yes. And as soon as the robots landed, they began to dig for something. It might be a Power Stone, but the energy signature is slightly different. In fact, it seems to be nearly identical to the wavelength of the Power Rings," said Lupe.

This piece of info wrought a faint feeling of terror among the Freedom Fighters. The Power Rings were one of the reasons why they had an edge against Robotnik; the scientist did not have a chance to study them and learn their secrets. If he got something that was similar to the rings, and managed to learn their properties...

"We need to stop him," Sally spoke, a determined look in her blue eyes. "Let's initiate the attack on Robotnik. This might be an opportunity to learn more about what this object is, and if we are exceptionally lucky, we might even be able to recover it."

Lupe nodded in agreement. "Let's do it."

* * *

With Sonic, things were looking bad. The blue hedgehog was surrounded by a literal hoard of robots, everything from surveillance robots to the more advanced SWATbots, robots similar to ordinary SWATbots, but much more enhanced in terms of strength and speed.

"Time for the ring," he said to himself as he reached into his backpack and pulled out the Power Ring. There was a bright flash of gold before Sonic curled up and spun head-over-heels, charging through the mass with ease.

"Ha-ha-ha," Sonic chuckled, a smirk on his face. However, it was wiped off of his face when he felt a sudden tug pulling at the glowing ring.

"What the-?" he started, only to be cut off as the slight tug grew so strong that the ring nearly went flying out of his grasp. He himself had a strong grip, and that resulted in him being pulled along for the ride too.

"Wwwwwhhhhooooaaaaaa!" Sonic yelled as he was pulled deeper into the canyon. The ring's glow brightened until it was blinding, and Sonic closed his eyes tightly.

There was a sudden change in the air and he opened his eyes, another shout of surprise slipping past his lips when he found himself falling.

He landed face-first on the ground and groaned in pain. It was fortunate for him that he was not at a great height when he fell, and Sonic quickly got up. "Where am I?" he muttered to himself, looking around. He knew that he was still in the Great Canyon, but at which part?

"Scratch that, what just happened?" Sonic corrected himself, looking at the ring in his hand. To his shock, instead of becoming dull and black as it usually did when he used up its power, it was still glowing brightly.

The ring wiggled in his grip and Sonic yelped in surprise when he was pulled forward. "What's going on?" he asked, extremely confused.

There was no reply, of course, so Sonic resigned to his fate and followed the rather insistent ring.

It led him towards a dig site, devoid of robots. Sonic looked around cautiously, the rather eerie silence dancing on his nerves, but the ring pulsed slightly, bringing Sonic's attention back to it.

The Power Ring pulsed again and pulled Sonic closer to the quarry. The hedgehog blinked and looked down, immediately spotting the glimmer of an object the same shade as his eyes.

"What is that?" he asked himself, jumping down to get a better look. As he walked closer, he felt tingles all over his skin, causing his fur to puff up slightly. He could feel the immense energy coming off of the object, and the way it was similar to the Power Rings immediately caught his attention.

Sonic looked at the ring in his hand at that thought. 'Is it because of this thing...that the Power Ring acted like this?' he wondered. 'Maybe Sal knows something about this.' With that, he put his ring back in his backpack and reached down. His fingers dug through the dirt, unearthing more of the emerald-green object, revealing it to be a round-cut gem, an emerald of sorts.

"Amazing..." Sonic muttered softly, gazing at the jewel in awe. He reached down to grab the gem, but as soon as his fingers brushed against its smooth surface, a surge of power shot up his arm, making him gasp in shock. For a moment, his eyes shone, but it was over and he grabbed the gem.

Feeling no more reactions, Sonic shrugged it off and placed it in his quills. He had a feeling that putting the gem close to the Power Ring would not do any good, especially with the way they reacted with each other.

"Now, to find Sally..."

* * *

Nearby, in a tent, Robotnik was watching the event that had transpired after Sonic grabbed the Power Ring. There was not much except for a flash of light and Sonic disappearing from sight.

'Where is he?' he hissed in his mind, eyes running all over the screen in an attempt to find the hedgehog.

Back at the scene, the robots were searching for Sonic as well. Surveillance robots scattered all around in a frenzy, covering every single spot, while the robots were patrolling around, searching every nook and cranny.

Due to their attention mostly focusing on finding Sonic, they never once noticed another group of mobians approaching Robotnik's campsite.

"Everyone ready?" Sally asked, looking back at her group.

Bunnie and Rotor nodded back at the chipmunk. Antoine and Tails were left behind in the Wolf Pack's headquarters to guard the place while Lupe and her group planned to make a distraction of sorts to keep the robots from coming back to the dig site.

Sally and her group snuck as close as they could towards the tents and the chipmunk paused, waiting for a signal from Lupe.

It did not take long to receive a message from the wolf, and what Lupe said surprised Sally. "Princess, you can go ahead; the robots are so distracted by whatever they are doing that they hardly noticed us. I think they won't be coming back anytime soon."

Sally did not know what to make of this development, but she was not going to let it go to waste. "Bunnie, you take the left. Rotor, you take the right, while I'll take the rest."

"Aye, Sally-girl," Bunnie agreed as she ran off towards the tents on the right. Rotor followed suit, only heading towards the left. Sally on the other hand looked at the main tent, slightly bigger than the others.

'That's Robotnik's for sure... If I'm going to find out what he's planning, I have to do this,' Sally thought as she mustered up her courage. 'Here I go.'


	4. Chapter 4 - Chaos Control

**Alex: FINALLY! I've managed to upload a chapter!**

 **Alexia: You would have upload it faster if you weren't busy celebrating. Talk about that later; get to the disclaimer.**

 **Alex: Fine. I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog, SatAM or anything of the sorts, and the original idea that gave birth to this story is from SierLeAn. Also, credit goes to her for sort-of betaing my chapters.**

 **However, there is one thing I own, and that is how the plot goes on. That is MINE. Also, if there are any questions about this chapter, feel free to ask, and please drop a review. I want to hear your opinions as well.  
**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

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Chapter 4 - Chaos Control

Sally quickly yet cautiously made her way into the large tent. She expected to see the large green chair and Robotnik sitting in it, but to her surprise and suspicion, there was no one inside the tent.

'This might be a trap,' was her initial thought, but when she noticed that there were no robots as well, she relaxed her guard and made her way towards the numerous computers in the room

Reaching into her boot, she pulled out Nicole."Nicole, hack into Robotnik's computer mainframe and pull out any data you can get on the recent projects and plans."

"Hacking," Nicole's voice replied back as her (or its?) screen flashed slightly. A half a dozen of tense minutes passed by before there was a beep. "Hacking successful. Now locating the files."

Sally waited a few more minutes, taking the time to look through some things herself. There weren't any books or papers with plans written on them that she could look through since Robotnik did not use anything like those to store information, but there were many tools and other inventions of his that he left lying around at times.

"Sally, I think you might want to see this," Nicole suddenly spoke up, catching the chipmunk's attention.

"What is it?" At Sally's question, a file appeared on Nicole's screen, one that struck fear through her heart.

"Doomsday…he's planning on making the Doomsday device?!" she whispered, eyes wide and staring at the words in horrified disbelief. When she came out of her trance, she immediately selected it.

"Project Doomsday," Nicole spoke before information appeared on the screen. Sally's eyes followed the words, drinking up the information like a thirsty man would do after a long day in a desert. And what she found was frankly horrifying.

"Oh god…with this…the whole planet will fall…"

It was only after wasting precious minutes of shock that Sally regained her composure. "Nicole, gather all information related to the Doomsday project!" she barked urgently.

There was an affirmative beep before the device got to work. Despite Nicole's efforts though, the hacking was soon discovered.

"Hacker detected," a mechanical voice rang out sharply, startling Sally. "Deleting information. Sending virus."

At the last command, the chipmunk quickly withdrew Nicole away. Unfortunately, that was not all of the nasty surprises Sally would get today, for as soon as Nicole was detached, another alarm wailed.

"Intruder alert, in Information Center. Intruder alert-"

'Time to get out of here!' Sally told herself as she quickly made her way out of the tent, running back to the rendezvous point. On the way, she met Bunnie and Rotor just as they were finishing the last of their jobs.

"All the tents are bugged, Sally-girl," Bunnie reported.

"Great," Sally replied curtly, saving her breath for running. "What about Lupe?"

"She's back at the rendezvous point," Rotor answered. He opened his mouth to continue, but a yelp escaped out instead when a laser nearly fried his hat.

"Capture all Freedom Fighters," the SWATbots rumbled robotically as they pursued after the fleeing mobians. Sally, Bunnie and Rotor grimaced as they tried to run and dodge the lasers at the same time. It was not as easy as it sounded, but years of experience made up for it.

However, Sally, in a rare moment of carelessness, tripped over a protruding rock.

"Sal!" Rotor and Bunnie shouted, stopping to turn around and grab the chipmunk. However, the robots were nearly upon Sally, and time seemed to slow down for a moment.

Then, like lightning, a blue blur smashed into the robots, causing explosions all around, and time sped up once more.

"Sonic!" Bunnie and Rotor/Sally cried/sighed in relief.

The blue blur stopped next to the chipmunk, revealing the hedgehog they all knew. "Come on," he grunted, hoisting Sally up to her feet. "What's the situation?"

"Not now. Head to the peak over there, rendezvous point," Sally answered as quickly as she could without leaving important information out. Sonic took it all in and nodded.

"Hold on," was the only warning she received before Sonic took off, grabbing Bunnie and Rotor along the way. Despite having to drag three other mobians along, Sonic did not seem to be troubled.

"Sonic, wait!"

At the shout, Sonic paused briefly, a slightly annoyed look on his face. It faded away into his default neutral one when Sally waved Nicole in his face, showing a countdown.

"The explosives," Sonic spoke, not a question but a statement.

Sally in turn replied by pressing a button that immediately lowered the countdown to zero. There was a brief silence before what seemed like hemispheres of white light bloomed, followed by a loud boom and clouds of smoke and ash.

To the Freedom Fighters' luck, the explosions also took down the nearby SWATbots. That earned a cheer from Bunnie and Rotor. "That's another score for us!"

Sonic merely nodded in acknowledgement with a smirk before he continued on his way. In no time, the four arrived at the peak where Lupe and her fellow wolves were waiting.

"Great; you're all here," Lupe nodded, an expression of relief on her face.

"Way to state the obvious," Sonic muttered in reply. "Anyway, I found something." Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the beautiful green gem. "It seems to be exactly like the Power Ring, in a way. Any idea what this could be?"

Sally's eyes widened upon seeing the emerald and hearing Sonic's words. "Then...this is what Robotnik must be looking for."

Sonic's eyes narrowed in reply. He came to the same conclusion as the rest had when they first heard of the relic. "Any information about it?"

"We might have some clues about it from the files we got from Robotnik, but it will be better if we discuss this somewhere private," Sally replied.

"You're going nowhere," a familiar voice hissed, simmering with rage. Following that claim were several SWATbots and even a few Com-bots emerging from behind the rocks and surrounding the mobians. And at the head of the group was the familiar warlord, sitting in his floating seat-like contraption.

"Robuttnik! Still as fat as ever I see. Can you even see your feet with how fat you are?" Sonic sniped, glaring holes at the scientist.

Robotnik's eye twitched, his temperature going up a few notches or so. "You're going to pay for that, hedgehog!"

"Sorry, I have no change, and why should I pay for bad service?" Sonic retorted. "Besides..." The cobalt blue fur darkened a few shades. "You're the one who will PAY today..."

The gem in his hand pulsed, sensing the negative emotions rising up in the hedgehog.

"I beg to differ... Now, if you would kindly hand me the Chaos Emerald, or I will be forced to use...drastic measures...just like how I finished off your family..." Robotnik smirked, eyes glittering in malevolence.

Sonic could only take so much before he snapped. And while he may not necessarily show affection for the other Freedom Fighters, he was not going to let Robotnik take away another life again. Not on his watch!

Dark energy rose off from his fur in wisps. His emerald eyes deepened in color, now more of a forest green than emerald. The emerald in his hand glowed brighter, and inside Sonic's mind, the entity stirred even more, a white pupil-and-iris-less eye cracking open.

"Sonic?" Sally asked timidly, looking at the hedgehog in worry and a hint of fear.

Sonic did not seem to hear her. His eyes were glaring bullets, lasers and every kind of sharp weapons at the surrounding robots. There was a tense silence, but it was brief before Sonic disappeared in a flash.

However, there was no blur or streak. There were only flashes of light and electricity started to crackle around the robots. It was not long before the electricity grew and the robots all detonated.

"WHAT?!" Robotnik roared, eyes wide in disbelief and slight horror as Sonic easily dispatched every single robot he had. Even the Com-bots, which usually gave Sonic trouble destroying, fell defeated as well.

"You will pay Robotnik... YOU WILL PAY!" a furious yell echoed as Sonic, still emanating the dark energy, appeared in front of the scientist. The blue hedgehog was not hesitant about ending his enemy's life, but if he had been, he would have noticed the flickering edges of Robotnik's image.

"RARGWH!" Sonic grunted as he swung his leg and kicked. However, his foot merely phased through the image, revealing it to be a hologram, which disappeared with a fizzle. That just made Sonic angrier though.

"WHERE ARE YOU, ROBOTNIK?! COME ON OUT AND FACE ME, YOU COWARD!" Sonic roared to the heavens, eyes darting about to find the human.

"Sonic, STOP!" Sally finally shouted, running over towards the enraged mobian. When she reached him, Sally grabbed Sonic's gloved hand. However, a gasp of pain escaped her when said hand shifted so that it was holding hers instead, and in a near bone-crushing grip as well.

"Stay out of my way..." Sonic hissed, emerald glaring into wide blue eyes. "Or suffer the consequences."

Sally grimaced as Sonic squeezed a little harder, driving his point home. Usually, Sally would not back down, but now, things were different. Sonic was more inclined to hurt her than to listen to her, and if she made him angrier...

Sally was no fool; she had seen how easily Sonic took down the robots in no time flat. If she turned that power against her, she would not survive to tell the tale. Somehow, she had to stop Sonic without making him angrier. And somehow, it seemed near-impossible.

However, there was no time to think more about it because before Sally could even think, she was suddenly thrown away towards the group, just in time before the incoming lasers fried her.

"Sal! You alright there?" Rotor asked in worry as he caught Sally and hoisted her up to her feet.

"Yeah...I'll be fine," Sally replied, gritting her teeth at her aching hand. "Now...we better watch out. There are more robots here."

Just as she said those words, as if summoned by them, a whole group of robots jumped off from the surrounding boulders and moved to restrain them. Bunnie, using her mechanical arms, legs and her strength, took on the offensive. Sally and Rotor tried to help in any way they could, kicking the SWATbots down. Lupe and her group were doing well, dodging hits and returning them back. They usually gang up on a smaller number of robots, acting just like their feral ancestors.

Despite this, there were too many robots, and Sonic was being no help as he was more concentrated on finding (and killing) Robotnik. Owning to those facts, it was not long before the Freedom Fighters were restrained, held by the SWATbots.

"Sonic, help!" Sally cried out, hoping that the blue hedgehog would somehow help them. Her shout drew Sonic's attention, but it also drew away his concentration. He did not see the laser coming at him at all.

"Argh!" Sonic groaned in pain as the laser clipped his side. While he was stronger due to the Chaos Emerald's power, it alone did not make him invincible. He gritted his teeth, the pain bringing him back to some of his senses. He still felt the urge to hunt down Robotnik, but now, his friends were in danger.

And while he may not show them affection, he did care about them on some degree, and it would be a cold day in hell before he let Robotnik of all people get away with hurting or enslaving them.

Using his speed, he spin-dashed the robots holding his friends captive, but as soon as he was done, he immediately fell to one knee. It seemed that the laser had met quite a bit of its target after all...

"Sonic..." Sally whispered, looking at his injured state in shock. She had never seen him get wounded. Yes, there had been bruises and small cuts with singed fur from time to time, but never this bad...

Sonic let out a soft pained groan as he slowly got back onto his feet. The Chaos Energy from before had lightened slightly, no doubt from his anger draining away slowly. As a result, his fur lightened back to its cobalt shade and his eyes were now back to their original emerald hue.

"Hate to break it to you, but we're kinda surrounded here!" Rotor pointed out urgently, eyes darting around to see that the robots had managed to corner them. "How're we gonna get out?"

Sonic did not reply. He could try, but he had no doubt that he would not get far, especially when he would have to drag more than three mobians here. The emerald could give him a boost...

At the thought of that, a sudden idea of sorts popped into his head. He remembered when he used the Chaos Emerald to slow down time, in a way. He would disappear in a flash of light and reappear somewhere else, like the time when he was fighting those robots. Maybe...if he could somehow make the distance larger...

'But I can't control it; even when it is for short distances. It was just a lucky thing that there are robots everywhere,' Sonic thought. 'But then again...teleporting away from here is better than being kidnapped and roboticized.'

He tightened his grip on the emerald and focused on its power. Unknowingly, almost unconsciously, he spoke out two words.

"Chaos Control!"

There was a bright flash of light, blinding all those who saw it, including the robots. And when it disappeared, the mobians were gone, leaving behind a group of confused and disorientated robots.


	5. Chapter 5 - Separated

**Alex: Here we are with another chapter of A Change of Heart.**

 **Alexia: Sorry this took a while; lost inspiration back then.**

 **Alex: We probably shouldn't ask for this since we did not really update quickly, but please review. It will certainly improve moral and get us more pumped up to write a chapter.**

 **Alexia: Also, if there are any questions about the story, please feel free to ask.**

 **Alex: And finally, thanks to SierLeAn for checking the chapters! And now, the show must go on!**

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own anything except the skeleton plot. I don't own the characters (except an OC; don't worry, she will be just a minor character, and after her part is done, you won't see her again) or some parts of the plot (as in, this chapter will incorporate the plots of SatAM chapters; not plots from other authors).**

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Chapter 5 - Separated

'Ugh...where...where am I?'

A blurry blue eye slowly blinked open, staring at its surroundings. It wandered across the dimly-lit walls and landed on a familiar figure lying on the ground. "Lupe!"

At the soft gasp, the wolf mobian stirred as well. "Princess?" she muttered, her eyes seeing some colorful dots from the bright light before. When they cleared up, Lupe could see Sally lying on the metallic floor as well.

"Yeah," Sally replied quietly as she got up onto her feet and helped Lupe up. "I wonder what just happened..."

"The last thing was that we were being cornered by the robots...and Sonic did something," Lupe replied. "It must be something concering with that...Chaos Emerald he has."

"Chaos Emerald?" The word somehow felt familiar to Sally. She could have sworn she saw the word before... "Nicole!" she suddenly barked, pulling out the device from her boot. "Bring out the Project Doomsday files."

"Project Doomsday?!" Lupe gasped. All Freedom Fighters knew of the Doomsday, and it was nothing good. However, there was something worse than worrying about the project now, and it came in the form of a squad of SWATbots marching towards them. "Princess!"

Sally looked up and noticed the robots as well. "Quick, we have to get out of here." She packed Nicole away and the two ran towards a tunnel. "Looks like we're in Robotropolis... The place where the machine that handles all of Robotnik's traffic is..." Sally informed Lupe after a glance around. "There are some tunnels here; we can use them to get out."

They entered the tunnel and Sally pushed a large red button, opening an entrance. The two slipped in just as the doors behind them closed and came to a triple fork in the road.

"Where to?" Lupe asked Sally.

"Um...right!"

The two mobians ran down the right tunnel, only to come face to face with SWATbots heading towards them.

"No, I mean, left!"

They ran through the left tunnel this time, but it was a dead end.

"Middle then!'

They tried the middle tunnel, but it yielded the same results as when they went down the right tunnel. This time however, they could not change tunnels anymore, not when more SWATbots flooded in from the other end of the tunnel.

Lupe growled, hackles rising instinctively. Sally was tense as well, eyes darting around; desperately looking for an escape route while her mind raced to make up plans for different scenerios. Things were not going well for them though; both ends were blocked while there were no other routes to go through.

With how tensed they were, it was a surprise that they did not notice a soft rattling sound. Somewhere behind their feet, a panel came off loose and a hand reached out, grabbing Sally's boot. The touch startled her badly and she instinctively kicked.

"Easy there!" a voice, definitely mobian and non-robotic, spoke up. "Come on! Quickly!"

Deciding to take the chance, Lupe and Sally squeezed through the opening one by one and the panel was quickly fitted back. The two mobians, having barged through, were sitting on the floor, sighing in relief as the adrenaline wore off.

"Need a hand?"

A hand covered in orange-tan fur came into Sally's line of vision. Her blue eyes travelled up the offered appendage and towards the face of a goat-like mobian, going by his horns. She looked back at the ungloved hand and nodded with a smile.

"Yes, thanks," she replied, taking the hand.

"I thank you for your aid as well," Lupe added, getting up onto her feet despite the goat mobian offering his hand. "Though...who are you?"

"I'm Griff," the goat mobian replied.

"I'm Sally and this is Lupe," Sally introduced herself and Lupe. However, before they could continue with the pleasantries, a loud banging sound could be heard coming from behind the panel.

"The SWATbots...follow me!" Griff told the two ladies as he ran down the tunnel. Sally and Lupe were quick to follow and they disappeared into the darkness just as the panel gave way and a SWATbot looked in.

As the two Freedom Fighters folloewd Griff, Sally's mind wandered back to the rest of her friends. 'Sonic, Rotor, Bunnie, Tails, Antoine, I hope you guys are alright...'

* * *

Somewhere else in Robotropolis

Amidst the pile of scrap and metal, everything seemed still. Then, an area of the metal started shaking and moving. The source of the movement soon made itself known as a blue head full of quills poked out, emerald eyes dizzy yet alert.

"Man...that took a lot out of me..." Sonic muttered to himself, rubbing his head. "Where...?" Looking around, the dizziness disappeared in an instant once he recognized his surroundings. "Robotropolis..."

The scrap next to him rattled and a purple head wearing a hat popped out. "Sonic? What happened?" Rotor asked, shaking his head to get rid of the colored spots in his vision. When they cleared up, Rotor saw their location and gasped. "Robotropolis? But...how did we get here?"

"I did it," Sonic replied, pulling out a hand and revealing the green-colored gem in his grasp. "I used this stone to teleport us away from the robots...though looks like it did more bad than good..."

He looked around the scrap heap, expecting more heads to look out, but there were none. "Where are the others?" Sonic asked with a low growl, eyes scanning the area.

"Looks like we all got separated..." Rotor replied, wincing at the thought. "Tails and Antoine are back at the Wolf Pack headquarters, but the others..."

Sonic let out a soft half-suppressed snarl, but before he could react more, a familiar green transport flashed at the corner of his eye. It reminded him of their current situation and that he needed to curb his anger for the moment.

"Get down," he hissed to Rotor, ducking back into the trash pile. Rotor did not hesitate to follow, and the two waited with baited breath as the transport passed by.

When Sonic no longer felt the hair-raising feeling of having an enemy robot at close quarters, he slowly looked up. After a cautious scan around, he turned to Rotor. "We're going back to Knothole," was what he said before grabbing the walrus' hand.

"Wait, Sonic!" Rotor barked, eyes staring at somewhere behind the hedgehog.

"What?" Sonic nearly snarled, quills starting to bristle and tense.

"Look." Sonic obliged to the command with some reluctance and spotted a rather large carrier of sorts with robians (roboticized mobians) marching into it. "What do you think that is?"

"No time to find out," Sonic replied firmly. "Let's get-"

The rest of the sentence died in his throat when he spotted a very familiar hedgehog among the Robians. There was no mistaking those quills, styled similarly to his own, and the bushy mustache and eyebrows.

"Sonic?" Rotor asked, noticing the blue hedgehog's reaction. He looked at the direction Sonic was staring at as well and managed to get a glimpse of the hedgehog robian before the transport got in the way. It took about a few seconds before realization struck like a lightning bolt and the walrus' eyes widened. "U-Uncle Chuck?"

The name snapped Sonic out of his trance and replaced the shock with a mix of burning anger, hope and desperation. "We're following them," the blue hedgehog told Rotor before speeding off for the transport.

"Wait, Sonic!" Rotor gasped, trying to pull the hedgehog back. "You can't charge in recklessly! What about Sally and the others? What about Tails?"

Sonic faltered at the mention of the other Freedom Fighters, still lost and scattered because of him. The sting of guilt and disappointment flashed through his heart, growing even more when he remembered that Tails was left behind as well.

Tails. The little fox kit had grown so close to his heart that Sonic did not see him as Tail the fox, but Tails, his little brother. And he had already lost his siblings; he would not lose another one. He would be damned to the deepest layers of hell before that happened.

However, this was Uncle Chuck, the only member of his family left. He was not going to let go of his uncle like that either. And...as hesitant as he was to admit it, he could trust his...friends...to keep Tails safe, especially since out of all the Freedom Fighters, he and Antoine were the safest, hidden in the Wolf Pack's headquarters. In addition...Tails was growing up.

'He'll be fine... He's a big guy now.'

With that, his decision was made.

"We're going," he told Rotor with extra-firmness, a stubborn and determined gleam in his eyes. "This is Uncle Chuck, and I'm not going to lose him again!" With that, Rotor's protests fell upon deaf ears as Sonic ran like the Blue Blur he was nicknamed, chasing after his beloved uncle.

'No way am I going to lose you again, Unc'. It will be a cold day in hell before that.'

As for Rotor, he could only hope that things would go swimmingly for them, even just a tad.

But then again, the universe was not always so kind...

* * *

Far, far away in the Great Jungle

"Ugh...what hit my head?"

Jungle green eyes blinked open, meeting the same object their color was named after. The dazed look in them sharpened into alert as the owner of those eyes pushed herself up.

"Where in the world am I?" the rabbit cyborg mobian asked herself, looking at the greenery around that was different from the Great Forest. A snap from above caught her attention and she looked up with such force that she nearly got whiplash.

"Ah, you're awake finally!" a voice called out from above, and among the green background, Bunnie spotted a bundle of rich golden fur. "I've been waiting for you to do that!"

Bunnie squinted her eyes a bit, and finally identified the bundle of fur to be a wolf mobian, one of the wolves from the Wolf Pack. Jungle green met electric blue and the wolf smiled sheepishly.

"I can't get down. Help me?"

A few minutes later

"Phew, thanks! If it weren't for you, I would be stuck there for who knows how long!" the wolf sighed, obviously very relieved. "The name's Maia. You?"

"I'm Bunnie. Anyway, do you know where we are?" Bunnie asked.

Maia looked around and tilted her head, an intense look of concentration on her face. Then, as if she had found the answer, she perked up and shook her head. "Not a clue," she replied, her long bangs flying about.

Bunnie sweatdropped at the carefree and rather clueless attitude. 'That...is not a very good thing at times like this...'

"Anyway, what about the others? Where are they?" Maia asked, tilting her head again.

"I don't know sugar," Bunnie replied with a sigh. "They could be anywhere... And we don't have any means to call them, so we won't know for sure..."

"You need to call them?" Maia asked, her ears perking up. "We wolves have a way for that! Wait a minute." With that, she jumped up onto a branch and started climbing up a tree.

Bunnie did not realize it for a few moments, but by the time she did, it was too late. Maia was already high up among the canopy.

"Maia, wait! You can't-"

"AAAWWWWWRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The long and surprisingly loud howl startled everything within the hearing range, causing several non-mobian birds to screech and take flight while alerting the jungle's inhabitants. Bunnie winced as she was in very close range, and the fact that she had sensitive ears did not help.

There was a long moment of silence for a while before another loud howl came from Maia.

"AAAAAARRRWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!"

Another period of silence followed the howl. Maia growled in slight annoyance and prepared for another howl, only for her ears to catch a slight sound in the wind.

It was a replying howl. Her calls were heard.

Maia grinned widely and let out some loud barking calls, followed by short howls trailing into a long one.

'Where are you?' her calls asked.

The interval was shorter this time. It was not long before another reply came over the wind.

'At a bay! South of you!'

'We're coming then! Regroup!' Maia last called out before ending the connection. As she was a wolf, howling loudly the way she did had not much effect on her throat, so she was not out of breath.

However, when she looked down at the ground...

"EEEEKKKK! HOW DID I GET UP THIS HIGH?! BUNNIE, CAN YOU PLEASE GET ME DOWN AGAIN?! PLEASE?!"

Bunnie sighed. 'Here we go again.'

Unknown to the two, their activities had not gone unnoticed. A large group of animals watched as Bunnie climbed up the tree to get Maia down, hidden among the greenery. And floating among the large trunks, a certain surveillance robot adjusted its lens, focusing on the mobians.

"Hmm...interesting..." a slightly British-accented voice hissed, watching the screen displaying the scene in the Great Jungle. "This might prove useful to me..."


	6. Chapter 6 - A Prophecy?

**Alex: I'M FREAKING BACK!**

 **Alexia: You baka! Leaving the fanfiction for a month without even giving them a fair warning?! What kind of a writer are you?!**

 **Alex: One the writes only when inspiration struck. It gives out better chapters and makes me think harder. So, here's the long-awaited chapter on A Change of Heart, also beta-ed (in a way) by SierLeAn! Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 6 – A Prophecy?

"Where are we going?" Lupe asked as she, Sally and Griff squeezed themselves into a narrow gap.

"Lower Mobius," was Griff's reply as he showed them the tunnel-like slide leading down.

"Lower Mobius?" Lupe asked while Griff helped Sally slide.

"Yes. We escaped Robotnik's SWATbots and built an underground city. There's about thirty of us," Griff explained as he waited for Lupe to go in before following.

The ride down was not long, and soon, they found themselves in a large room that looked quite similar to Robotnik's factories, though by looking upwards, they could tell that they were indeed in the lower levels of Robotropolis.

Sally had to admit, it was not that bad of a sight.

There was a soft swishing noise of a door sliding open and the two jumped in surprise. However, it was just Griff and next to him was a large column where the hidden door had slid open, revealing a strange transportation of sorts packed into the column.

"Welcome to the Pipeline Express," Griff joked with a smile, gesturing them to get on.

Soon, the three of them were travelling through the very dim-lighted pipes in the transport, which turned out to be a hovering car of sorts. 'It certainly acts like one,' Lupe thought when she heard the strange grinding noises coming from the vehicle.

"What was that?" Sally asked, looking at Griff for an explanation.

"Well, I think the gearbox needs a little work," the mobian replied with a slight...laugh? It sounded like a mix of humor and nervousness to Sally, but being polite, she decided not to point it out.

The ride went on for a while before the craft approached a closed door. Griff took out a small device of sorts and pressed a button, releasing a bolt of blue light. When the light hit the door, it automatically slid open. "Keeps the Ratbots out," Griff offered.

"Ratbots? What are they?" Sally asked, having never heard of them before.

"They're tunneling rats Robotnik created years ago, but he abandoned them. Now, they run wild in here. The rats are all dangerous but there's one in particular. You see, he's a mutant, and he's much bigger than the others," Griff explained. When he saw the worried looks on the two mobians' faces, he quickly added, "But don't worry; we're safe in Lower Mobius, as long as the door holds."

That did not sound as reassuring as it was supposed to be though.

* * *

Soon, the three arrived at their destination. The roof above them opened, revealing that they had gone underground. Griff stood up and gestured around. "Welcome to Lower Mobius." Being the gentleman he was, he got out first and helped the two ladies down.

The goat mobian then led them down a tunnel and Sally let out a gasp upon seeing what Lower Mobius looked like. "Oh my gosh…it's beautiful…" she breathed out in awe. Compared to the polluted mess of a metallic city Robotropolis was, Lower Mobius looked practically gorgeous with its lovely buildings reminiscent of Mobotropolis' own back in its days. On the ceiling, there was a device of sorts with a large glowing rock that dimmed and brightened in a periodic fashion.

"That is our energy chamber. It supplies all the power for Lower Mobius. Without it, we couldn't survive down here," Griff explained, a strange expression crossing his face at the last sentence. Sally, being distracted by her surroundings (who wouldn't be if they suddenly saw a miniature version of their old home after years), did not notice it, but Lupe certainly did.

'Odd. Why would he be worried…?' she wondered as she and Sally followed Griff into Lower Mobius.

On the way, they met up with a warthog mobian dressed up slightly similar to Antoine. "Welcome back, Griff!" he greeted with a hopeful smile. "Have you a successful trip?"

"No, not really. I'll tell you about it later, but I did meet some Freedom Fighters," Griff replied, gesturing to the two ladies behind him.

The warthog immediately saluted in respect. "We're honored."

* * *

Later, Sally was in a control center of sorts filled with various equipment. She was looming over the ones used for communication and was busy trying to get a signal to the Wolf Pack Headquarters. "Nicole, how's the status?" she asked the device in her hand.

"I almost got to them, Sally. Just a bit more," Nicole answered before the green bar projected from the device was completely filled. There was an affirmative beep and the screen in front of Sally lit up, revealing the image of the Wolf Pack's headquarters. "Tails! Antoine! Are you there?!"

There were sounds of something stumbling before a face appeared in the screen. "Tails!" Sally sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're there."

"Aunt Sally!" Tails shouted in reply, feeling reassured at the sight of the princess. His shout drew the attention of Antoine and the coyote came running, pushing Tails away from the screen so that he could see Sally as well.

"My princess! Thank goodness you're safe and sound! I apologize for not being there to protect you, but please tell me where you are and I'll come flying as quickly as I can!" Antoine blabbered, waving his arms around.

"Thank you Antoine, but don't worry. As you said, I'm safe. However, can I see Tails?" Sally asked. It was not as if she disliked Antoine, but the coyote was not exactly smart enough for the discussion about to take place. As much as it was rather degrading, Tails was a whole lot smarter despite his young age.

"What's the matter, Aunt Sally?" Tails asked, reappearing in the screen.

"Our mission was mostly a success, but we found out a lot…" Sally sighed, deciding to start from the beginning. "We found out why Robotnik was there. He is planning the Doomsday Project…"

Tails was young and he did not remember the day Mobotropolis fell, but even he knew from the word 'Doomsday' that it was nothing good. "We found some files about it from Robotnik's database, but we didn't get them all," Sally continued. "Nicole, bring up the files."

There was a series of beeps before Nicole brought up a hologram displaying a menu listing the files. The names were not explicit, but anyone would know what the initials D.P meant when concerning the Doomsday project.

There were three files in total and Sally selected the first one, revealing the blueprints for the device. "Good. We got the blueprints of the device," Sally commented as she ran through the image. However, there was a piece that was missing, as if it had not been planned yet. "Tails, I'm sending this to you. We need to look through it with Rotor-."

Sally abruptly cut herself off, remembering that they were all separated during that flash of light. "Oh god...how could I forget?"

Tails was worried when he saw Sally's shocked look. "Aunt Sally, what is it?" he asked.

"Sonic…" Sally whispered, but Tails easily picked it up due to her close proximity with the communication device. Add the fact that he was a fox, and it was easy (those ears were not for show).

"What about Sonic? He's here…isn't he?" Tails asked, trailing off at the end when he suddenly got a bad feeling.

"Sonic…Rotor…and Bunnie… I'm sorry Tails, but…we got separated… But that's not the bad thing. It's…we don't know where they are!" Sally replied, her mind running at the speed of light in an attempt to think out a way to find them. "Oh god…I hope they're alright…"

"Don't worry, Aunt Sally! Sonic will be alright! And Bunnie is tough while Rotor is very smart! They'll come through for sure!" Tails replied, his twin tails wagging. While he was indeed worried, he could not help but feel confident for them as well.

For all his young life, Sonic was something like an untouchable person in his mind. The blue hedgehog could do anything, he would think so. Sonic was the coolest guy around and Tails knew that nothing could hold Sonic back.

Bunnie was, as said before, tough. Tails loved her like an aunt and he knew that Bunnie's cyborg arm packed quite a punch (as evident from last week when he found her training with a dummy; her punch sent it flying for quite a distance).

And Rotor…if there was another person he admired as much as Sonic, or as close to Sonic, it was Rotor and Uncle Chuck. It was because both of them were super smart and Rotor was the greatest mechanic teacher Tails ever knew of. Rotor taught Tails a lot, and the little fox knew that Rotor would be able to come through no matter what.

With those thoughts in mind, Tails gave Sally a bright grin. "They'll be alright, count on it!"

Sally sighed, but she offered a smile in return. Tails' words managed to dispel some of the worry, but it did not mean that she was still not concerned about her friends and fellow Freedom Fighters' welfare. However, she knew that there was nothing she could not do about that at the moment. Right now, what she needed to do was focus.

"Alright… As I was saying, I'll send the blueprint to you," Sally continued from where she left off.

"No worries Sally. I have already done it," Nicole cut in. "It should be arriving at Knothole's main computer soon."

Sally nodded and moved on, selecting the second file. It was something she did not expect though. Rather than the modern blue background with white words she was expecting, it was instead of images that showed strange engravings on stone walls.

Not all of them were strange though when she spotted a familiar shape among them. "Those gems…they look like the one Sonic found!" There were words written in a code of sorts next to the images. "Nicole, can you decode them?"

"Of course," Nicole replied, immediately getting to work on translating the ancient writings. There was a fast shifting among the images and Sally waited anxiously.

About twenty minutes passed by. It did not seem like a long length of time, but for those who were waiting each and every minute, it certainly felt like an eternity. There were sighs of relief when Nicole finally finished.

"I apologize for taking too long; the Mobian script was an old one, mostly from the long-deceased echidna tribe," Nicole explained before bringing up the translated paragraphs.

Most were about the echidna tribe, their history and how they came to be. Sally skipped those, knowing that Robotnik would not be interested in a species that was long extinct. Then, she came across a paragraph about, what Robotnik said? Ah, yes, he said 'the Chaos Emerald'. However…there seemed to be more than one.

"Seven…there are seven of those emeralds…" Sally muttered, coming upon an image depicting seven emeralds each in different color. They did not look faded at all, despite the surrounding walls appearing to be as old as time.

Below them were engravings, which Nicole had translated.

 _The servers are the Seven Chaos.  
Chaos is Power, Power enriched by the Heart.  
The Controller is the one who unifies the Chaos._

 _Evil hands reach out from the shadows,  
Seeking destruction and sorrow._  
 _Should the servers be corrupted,_  
 _Everything will be voided._  
 _Darkness and Light, divided they fall._  
 _But when united, Chaos will answer their call._  
 _Dark is Light, and Light is Dark._  
 _They are both one and the same, forever entwined._  
 _Positive and Negative, together make Neutral._  
 _Green and Red flames will burn._  
 _And the world will be born anew._

"What does that mean?" Sally wondered. "Servers? Seven Chaos? Wait…seven Chaos…" Her eyes darted up to the image once more and counted. There were seven emeralds, seven **Chaos** Emeralds… "So, the servers refer to the seven Chaos Emeralds…and Power…" It was a no-brainier that the Chaos Emeralds apparently held power, especially after seeing Sonic in action using just one. Just what would happen if he had all seven…

Shaking her head, she continued on. "The controller? The one who controls the Chaos? But who?" An inkling thought of Sonic being the controller passed through her mind, but she dismissed it. Sonic did not seem to be able to control the power if what she saw in the Great Canyon was any indication. "Evil hands? Does it mean…someone bad is after the emeralds? Wait…"

Sally took another look at the lower sentences. They were rhyming in a slight manner, not completely though. And the way they used future tense…did it mean that…the words were of a…prophecy?

"Nicole, is there anything about echidnas and prophecies?" Sally asked, her thoughts running on what it would mean if there was a connection and that this was a genuine prophecy.

"It will take a while to find information about that, Sally. The echidna tribe had been extinct for a long time and information on them is quite rare. I will find it as fast as I can, but it might take a while," Nicole replied as she? It? Anyway, as Nicole got to work.

Sally sighed, but she accepted it and went on to the last file. This time, it revealed Robotnik's plans, though only an outline of sorts.

"Robotnik…he plans to use some sort of relics to power up the Doomsday Project…" Sally told Tails as she skimmed through the numerous words. There were other additional information such as the search for the relics, but there was one thing that popped out at her.

'The Chaos Emeralds hold more power than imaginable. Their power is unrivalled, even more powerful than the Power Rings! With that power, I will conquer the world!'

"Oh my god…" Sally muttered. Her mind flashed her back to the instant where Sonic got angry and decimated Robotnik's forces. That power…if that was what one Chaos Emerald was capable of, what if all seven were used, at the same time…?

"This is serious, Tails. The Emeralds hold a lot of power and if Robotnik gets his hands on them, all will be lost," Sally explained to Tails. "Why, just one Emerald is enough to power an entire city!"

Those words perked the interest of the listener (cough*eavesdropper*cough) as they leaned closer, wanting to hear more about this powerful relic.

"We must stop Robotnik from getting his hands on them at all cost," Sally said out loud. "Tails, can you make a device that can locate them?"

"I can try, but I don't know unless I see a Chaos Emerald myself. If I know its wavelength though, I think I can make a device to find them," Tails replied. At the mention of 'wavelength', something sparked in Sally's memory, but she was having trouble remembering it…

"Um…Aunt Sally?"

Tails' voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she gave the two-tailed fox an apologetic look. "Sorry Tails; I was just lost in my thoughts."

"That's alright. About the device though, if I know either the Chaos Emerald's wavelength or its energy signature-"

"That's it!" Sally shouted, now remembering what Lupe once told her back at the Wolf Pack Headquarters.

'Yes. And as soon as the robots landed, they began to dig for something. It might be a Power Stone, but the energy signature is slightly different. In fact, it seems to be nearly identical to the wavelength of the Power Rings.'

"The Power Ring. Lupe once told us that the object Robotnik was looking for has nearly the same wavelength as the Power Ring. Since the object is the Chaos Emerald…"

"Its power signature is the same as the Power Ring!" Tails finished, his ears perked up and twin tails wagging in excitement. "That's great! I can make a device that can lock onto the Power Ring's energy signature and with it-."

"We can find the Chaos Emeralds!" Both Tails and Sally gasped in unison.

"Alright then. Here's the plan. Tails, you and Antoine head back to Knothole. We'll go there as well. Regroup at Knothole. Then, while you make the device, Lupe and I will try and find the others. Is that alright?' Sally asked.

"Sure!" Tails replied. "We're going right now! See you at Knothole, Sally!" Then, without waiting for Sally to say anything else, the screen flickered and the image disappeared, making Sally sigh.

"Sonic's really rubbed off on Tails…" she commented, thinking of how Tails brushed her off when excited, just like how Sonic would when it came to missions. "I better tell Lupe about this."

While Sally was busy powering down the communication devices, the…eavesdropper quickly left, a plan forming in their mind.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Search Begins

**PLEASE READ!**

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 **Also, this is not betaed, so if it sounds crappy or anything, tell me clean and plainly; I really need the feedback. And Alysa, if you're reading this chapter, please know that I'm using my phone bill to get this posted; the internet is still as freaking crappy as ever. Sorry.**

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* * *

Chapter 7 – The Search Begins

"Sigh…"

Lupe closed her eyes, letting out another brief sigh once more as she rested her cheek on the palm of her hand. Most of the time, she would appear to be unaffected by the prospect of the future or unshaken by the possibilities and the things that could have gone wrong at any moment, but once in a while, she would have those doubts in her mind.

Could they pull it off? Would they get away without being robotized, injured or worse, dead? Could they save Mobius from Robotnik's tyranny? If it were a small mission, like the ones they did in an attempt to slow down Robotnik's factories, Lupe would easily brush off those doubts. There was not much to worry about, and the SWATbots were not all that difficult to handle.

However, this was not a small time mission. This was huge. This was the Doomsday project they were talking about, one so large that it could easily overshadow the incident years ago when Robotnik took over Mobotropolis and the Acorn Kingdom. The first incident had crippled Mobius and her inhabitants into an already horribly state. What would happen if something even worse than that happened…?

How many more lives would be lost to the roboticizer or the jackals of the underworld?

"Sigh…"

"That's one heavy sigh."

At the comment, Lupe looked up to the speaker. It was the bartender, a maned wolf mobian looking about a year older than her. He looked completely average with his common black-tipped red fur for his species, but his eyes were pale, unseeing, and Lupe sucked in a sharp gasp.

The maned wolf rolled his eyes at that. "Now, now, just because I am blind, it does not mean you have to react that way."

"I apologize," Lupe immediately replied.

"Don't be sorry; I received a lot of the same reactions from others and it is just mildly irritating," the maned wolf sighed, waving off Lupe's apology. "However, just because I'm blind does not mean I'm deaf, and even though I can't see you, I know for sure something's bothering you. Why not spill the beans?"

Lupe raised an eyebrow at the maned wolf's rather blunt approach. "If you want to know something, why make your intention blatantly obvious?" she asked. "If you think that will make them give you answers, you might want to rethink again."

"I'm a bartender, and this is a bar. Do you know what mobians who come to bars do?" the maned wolf asked in a way that seemed to imply that Lupe was a child who did not understand why water is wet.

Without waiting for Lupe to reply, he bulldozed onwards. "They drink. And when they are good and drunk, their tongues loosened up and due to my blind state, my hearing is better, which makes hiding their rambles that much harder."

The last part was barked in a sarcastic way and it irritated Lupe. The maned wolf was definitely not one to sugarcoat things or beat around the bush. He was too…brazen, if that was the right word to describe him. Not to mention, the way he talked to her as if he was speaking to a child did not give him any points as well.

"I see. Well then, I must be the first to come here just to muse rather than drink myself to a stupor. I have no time for those kind of things as well," Lupe huffed. "And since you apparently think your bar is a place for drunken mobians to rant about their misfortunes, I will be on my way."

"Aren't ya a snappy one?" the maned wolf drawled. "Well then, oh-snappy-one, you must know that a drink is not the only way to get someone to talk. I know of other methods as well, and one of them is by telling you this."

Reaching blindly behind him, he muttered some curses under his breath as he tried to locate a chair. Unfortunately, his attempts merely led him to tripping over his abnormally long tail and hitting his head against the furniture he was looking for. "Damn…I should have tied the stupid thing up," he mumbled to himself. "At least, I found what I am looking for."

The strange behavior caught Lupe a bit off guard. His actions and reactions were strangely…comedic in a way. His expressions were too expressive as well, as if he was wearing his heart on his sleeve. 'From his blunt attitude, it is not very surprising that he rarely hides his emotions…' Lupe deduced.

"Alright," the maned wolf spoke, snapping Lupe out of her thoughts. "The doctor is in the house, so please feel free to talk about whatever is on your mind." At her silence, the maned wolf continued, "Look, if it makes you feel better, I won't spill a word about whatever you tell me. I've kept a lot of secrets for others before. Also, talking to a stranger you will never see again helps get some weight off of your chest. So, sounds good?"

"…Why are you persistent on making me talk about my troubles?" Lupe asked instead.

"Snappy-one, these are dark times. All the mobians are suffering. They have lost something precious to them, whether it be something as important as a loved one or something as trivial as the smell of fresh air. During the younger years of Lower Mobius, I have seen many mobians come to the bar, heavy and weighed by whatever that is troubling them," the maned wolf replied, resting his head on his folded arms.

"I'm just a bartender, a stranger to them, and have no right to anything about them. However, what I can do is offer them a drink, let them drown their sorrows away and listen as they ramble about their troubles to me. It is not much, but it lifts the weight up a bit, see?" he asked, a whimsical smile appearing on his face.

"Right now, I don't know who you are, let alone your name. However, what I do know is that you are one of those troubled people who come into my bar, and like all the others before you, what I do now is offer you a drink – though from what I have heard, you're not the type to drink until you are drunk, so I'll skip that – and let you talk about whatever is rolling through your mind. Of course, if you are more of a conversation type, I can pick up some topics."

"While I do thank you for your thoughtfulness, I do not have time to talk," Lupe grunted. "There are things to be done and things to be accomplished."

"Overworking yourself ain't gonna help ya in the long run," the maned wolf huffed. "Why not just take a break? It's like taking a nap; it refreshes your mind and helps you get some needed rest. Everyone loves naps too! So, why not take a break? You can go back to being your worrywart self after this, but for now, loosen up a bit, why don't cha?"

"...You are awfully persistent."

"I know. It's a part of my charm."

"And annoying."

"Ye-, hey, what?! Oi! I ain't annoying!"

The pure flustered look on the maned wolf's face and his reaction made Lupe's lips twitch upwards a bit. Thank goodness the mobian was blind, or she would probably never live it down.

The lights in the bar suddenly flickered and started to dim. The soft steady hum from before became even softer and lower, which grabbed both of the mobians' attention. "What's going on?" Lupe asked, a frown now on her face.

"It is a brownout, in simple words," the maned wolf sighed, worry now clouding his features. "The energy chamber we have here will not last long. Griff told us not to worry about it, but at the rate things were going, I wonder if-."

"Lupe!"

At the sound of Sally's voice, Lupe turned to see the princess running over to her. "I've finished talking over with Tails. He and Antoine are now heading back to Knothole, where we will meet them. Griff offered to give us a ride there," Sally quickly explained. "We better hurry though, before the Ratbots start roaming around."

Lupe nodded in acknowledgement and quickly got out of her seat, following the princess as they headed to where Griff was waiting for them in the hovercraft. The maned wolf listened as their footsteps faded away before letting out a soft sigh. "Ah…Lupe, the leader of the Wolf Pack…. I wonder if Maia is doing alright…"

With his musings to keep him company, the maned wolf went back on his job, as if nothing had happened at all.

* * *

Sometime during the brownout

Griff's expression was a perfect picture of worry and fear as he looked at the energy chamber from its control center. The glowing crystal was starting to lose its light, and it was never a good sign for anyone living in Lower Mobius.

The warthog mobian from before pressed some buttons and the glow returned. "I doubt it will last another twenty four hours, Griff."

"We have to do something," Griff told the warthog. "The Freedom Fighters have discovered an energy source of sorts, something about emeralds with a lot of power. I have not seen them yet, but I believe it might just be what we need. They also spoke about Power Rings…and if the rumors are true, that will be just enough to power the chamber for a long time. However, they're very protective of it; hardly spoke much about it at all."

"This calls for drastic measures. Can they help us?" the warthog questioned Griff.

"I don't know yet it we can trust them," was the reply as Griff rested his hand on his palm and thought over the issue. "But I know what to do."

At that moment, Sally entered the center. "Griff, can you help us get back to the surface?" she asked.

The question had Griff blinking in surprise, pleasant surprise at that. 'Whoa. That was faster than I thought… Perfect.'

* * *

And now, back to the present

The ride through the pipelines was smooth with no interruption, just like their trip to Lower Mobius. Soon, they were out of Robotropolis and speeding back to the Great Forest. On the way, Sally was deep in thought, pondering over whether she should inform Griff of the situation or not.

On one hand, she did not want to spread panic and worry Griff or any of the Lower Mobius' inhabitants, not after the hospitality they had shown her and Lupe. On the other though, she did not think it was wise to keep something as threatening as the Doomsday project from the mobians, especially those living right under Robotropolis.

"This is really beautiful," Griff suddenly commented, bring Sally out of her thoughts. "It must be amazing, to be living in a place like this…"

"It is," Sally agreed, pushing aside the decision for a brief moment. 'Maybe…in return for Griff's hospitality, I could show him around, let him see Knothole, and then, I could decide…' Thinking it was the best course of action, she kept quiet.

The hovercraft soon came to a gentle stop as it landed lightly on the ground. "Home sweet home," Griff said, making Sally giggle.

"Would you like a Knothole tour?" Sally asked as she got off the hovercraft.

Griff moved to refuse at first, but he thought better of it. 'This might be my chance…' With that, he gave Sally a charming smile and replied, "I would love to."

Lupe merely raised an eyebrow at that while Sally smiled. The princess then turned to Lupe and added, "Lupe, you can spend the night here. We have plenty of room, and our communication devices are here as well. You can call your headquarters."

"Thank you princess. I will."

* * *

When they arrived in Knothole, Sally was greeted by a ball of yellow-gold fur tackling her. "Aunt Sally!" the ball cried, revealing to be Tails curled up and hugging her tightly.

"Tails!" Sally laughed, also happy to see the little Kitsune. Even though they just saw each other through the communication device, real life was another thing. "Tails, has anyone else came by?"

Tails' ears drooped and the fox shook his head. "Sorry Aunt Sally, but no. I've tried calling others, but we didn't bring our communication watches in the first place, so…"

Sally sighed. "It's alright, Tails. We'll find them. Who knows? Maybe they're headed to Knothole too," she told Tails in an attempt to cheer him up. "Now, let's get to work. The sooner we find the emeralds, the better."

Tails perked up at that and got off of Sally. "Aunt Sally, I made the device! It just needs a Power Ring before it is ready to go!"

"Great! In the meantime, can you take Lupe to a free room? She wants to stay for the night," Sally told Tails, gesturing back to Lupe.

"Sure!" Tails replied with a nod as he turned towards Lupe.

However, the wolf held up a hand, shaking her head. "I want to call the headquarters first," Lupe informed Tails. "Maybe this way, I can contact the other Freedom Fighters too."

The fox nodded in understanding before he noticed the other mobian standing next to Lupe. "Who's this?" he asked.

"Tails, this is Griff from Lower Mobius. I plan on giving him a tour (and informing him of something)," Sally replied as she took Griff's arm in hers and led him away.

Tails tilted his head as he watched her walk away. He had a thought about Griff, but he decided not to say it out loud. If Sally wanted to give Griff a tour, then she could give him a tour. As long as Sally was safe, of course.

* * *

Throughout the day, Sally showed Griff around. She took him through the Knothole village and showed him Rotor's workshop, their homes and the meeting room.

"And finally, this is the Power Lake," Sally said as she led Griff to a lake. They walked across a log acting as a platform and looked down at the surface. "This is where we get our Power Rings."

"That sounds very nice, but I'm not sure I quite understand," Griff commented, his reflection mirroring his thoughtful frown. It soon disappeared as a spot on the lake's surface bubbled and glowed softly.

"Great! We're in luck; a ring is coming," Sally smiled, kneeling down to get a closer look.

The bubbling spot soon gave way to reveal a glowing gold ring rising out of the lake. Sally grabbed it as soon as she could and held it up to show it to Griff, who watched with wide-eyed amazement. "It's magnificent."

"Now, let's get this back to Tails. He'll be able to create the device we need to find those Chaos Emeralds with this," Sally told Griff as she headed back to Knothole, making a beeline for Rotor's workshop.

Griff followed at a more sedate pace, plans running through his mind.

* * *

"Great Sally!" Tails exclaimed when the princess came in bearing the Power Ring. "I finished the device too. All I need is to insert the Power Ring into this container here..." The kit took the ring from Sally and placed it in position. "And that should do it!"

The ring glowed brightly from behind the glass cover and the device lit up. On a screen, several waves began to appear, moving into a pattern of wavelengths.

"Can I borrow Nicole for a while, please?" Tails asked.

Sally's lips tilted into a small frown. "Why do you need Nicole?"

"The device is not exactly perfect. It does not have a map function, so I need Nicole for that," Tails explained. Sally's frown disappeared and she easily handed Nicole over. "Thanks Sally."

Tails pressed some buttons on Nicole and the device, syncing them. Nicole's screen flashed before a hologram of a map appeared. Three dots blinked on it. One was in Knothole, where the Power Lake was. The other two were in different places. One was in Lower Mobius and the other was in the Great Forest, somewhere further away from Knothole.

"That's it! We did it! Those dots are the Chaos Emeralds, except for that one. I think that's the Power Lake, since this is a Power Ring," Tails explained, his tails wagging in excitement. "Now, we just need to mark them on a map and find them!"

Sally smiled. "Great work Tails! Lupe, Griff and I can get the one in Lower Mobius."

"And Antoine and I will handle the one in the Great Forest!" Tails added. Seeing Sally's concerned look, Tails pouted. "Come on, Aunt Sally! I can take care of myself, and Antoine can too!"

Sally had to admit, Tails was right. The little fox was not so little anymore. However, Antoine on the other hand...while he was the older among the two, he was also cowardly and...

"We'll be fine Aunt Sally! It's in the Great Forest too! Nowhere near the city," Tails pointed out. "We'll be near home at all times too!"

Sally sighed, giving in. "Alright Tails, but promise you'll come back as soon as you're done, understand?"

Tails grinned and playfully saluted. "Aye aye!"

Now, with the goals established, the search can begin...

* * *

Somewhere in the Great Jungle

It had been nearly over two hours since they arrived in the jungle, and they still had not reached their destination. If it were a normal jungle, they would not mind the extremely long walk. However…

"Look out!"

Bunnie took a leap and tackled Maia off the cliff (not much of a cliff though), just in time before one of those creeping vines managed to get a hold of the wolf's leg. Maia yelped but quickly reoriented herself and looked around for the threat, and spotted a different one.

"Bunnie, below!"

The cyborg rabbit looked down and saw that her push had sent them heading straight for a large patch of quicksand below. Before she could react, Maia grabbed Bunnie with one hand and a vine (not one of those alive ones, thankfully) with the other. Using it, they swung over the quicksand.

Unfortunately, their momentum was, again, too much and the vine snapped. It took quick-thinking on Bunnie's part to get out the remote Rotor made for her extendable legs and pressed a few buttons that had her robotic legs stretching out and landing on dry land.

"Hope this wwwwwooooooorrrrrkkkksssss!" Bunnie shouted as she braced herself, using the firm hold she had with her feet and shortening them again so that they pulled herself and Maia along.

Maia yelped loudly and waved her arms around, also praying that they did not fall back and right into the deadly pit of sinking sand. A few heart-racing moments later and the two fell into a heap on the dry land, panting and sighing in relief.

"That was a close call. Ya alright there sugar?" Bunnie asked, looking over at her golden-furred companion.

"Yeah…just shaken up… Give me a dry desert plain or a meadow any day. A jungle is so not my thing!" Maia panted, the hand that grabbed the vine shaking. "Gosh, I get heebie-jeebies just touching vines after knowing that they can move…and…" The sentence ended with a shudder as the she-wolf got up onto her feet.

Bunnie did the same and the two continued on their way. 'I wish we found the terapods; it would be great if we had a guide to the bay Maia was talking about. I bet it is Boulder Bay. It would be so much easier if we found the pod and went along with them…'

Bunnie shook her head. 'No way is that happening; with Robotnik having given up on the terapods after what happened last time, they probably used the old route instead of through the Great Jungle…'

And the surveillance robot continued to watch them, their images reflected in its lens.


	8. Chapter 8 - White Scales, Red Eyes

**I STILL NEED A BETA, PLEASE HELP!**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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 **Sigh, oh well, there goes the email plan.**

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Chapter 8 – White Scales, Red Eyes

"Aaaaahhhhhhhh!"

Maia yelled as she whipped her head around, trying to find something to grab a hold of. She and Bunnie had been tree-hopping in an attempt to get to their destination faster. However, it was a stupid plan on Maia's part; the trees were full of those moving vines and the wolf mobian had lost count on how many times they had to flee from the vegetation hell-bent on capturing them. They had been doing well for a while, but their luck soon ran out.

"Quick, grab a vine!" Bunnie shouted at Maia, fumbling with the remote that controlled her legs' extension setting. It was their plan whenever they ended up falling down from a height that was too high – Maia would grab a vine and swing them closer to the ground. Bunnie would then use her legs to gain a firm hold on the ground and shorten them while Maia let go of the vine and hung onto Bunnie so that they would arrive down safely.

Maia looked around for the nearest vine to grab. Her eyes spotted one and she reached out, only to shriek and withdraw her hand quicker than lightning when the vine suddenly moved. That cost her precious time and she was too late to grab another as they hit the leafy ground.

To their surprise, instead of feeling broken bones or other horrendous injuries, the ground beneath them gave way and they fell, slightly slower as the leaves had broken their fall. Bunnie used that chance to use the remote and her legs extended, touching the ground.

Shudders ran through her at the impact, but being half-cyborg had prevented her from feeling her legs, so she only felt the shudders rather than the pain. Bunnie braced herself while Maia clung onto her robotic arm, and the rabbit mobian shortened her legs, slowly bringing them to the safe ground.

Maia and Bunnie both sighed in relief, thankful that they survived. "That was close, too close," Bunnie sighed. "Maia, why didn't you grab the vine?"

"Sorry Bunnie..." Maia replied, her head bowed in slight regret. "The vine just moved on its own and well...let's just say I've seen enough vines to get a reaction out whenever they move on their own..." Her golden fur puffed up at the reminder, goose-bumps crawling all over her skin. "Sorry."

Bunnie shook her head. "Sorry is not going to get us out of this mess, sugar," she told Maia firmly. "Now, we have to find a way to get back up."

"Speaking of that..." Maia finally took a look at her surroundings. "Where are we anyway?" she asked Bunnie.

Bunnie followed Maia's actions. Her jungle green eyes took in the sight of the large underground cavern, filled with stalactites and stalagmites, some dripping with water. There were a few vines wrapped around the stalagmites as well, not the ones that could move though. The only source of light was coming from the hole they fell through, so the cavern appeared rather dim.

"I don't know sugar. I haven't been here during the last time I came to the Great Jungle with my friends," Bunnie replied as she dug into her pack and pulled out a torch. "We'll have to be careful; this place might not be safe."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Maia agreed as she followed Bunnie, the beam of light dancing across the rather damp floor.

As they explored the cavern, the eerie feeling of hearing only the drip-drop of water falling from above was eating away at Maia's composure. Chills racked her form, making her shiver from time to time. She tried to occupy her mind with something, anything, but it just seemed to make things worse.

"Bunnie…" Maia whimpered, reaching out to hold the rabbit mobian's hand like a little child clinging onto her mother. The touch startled Bunnie, but looking back at the shivering wolf with her tail in between her legs, Bunnie could feel a touch of pity for Maia.

When they first met, Maia seemed like a clueless girl; ditzy but good-natured and helpful. She was also very sensitive, always worrying whether she was bothering Bunnie or not. Then, when they first got into a dangerous situation, Maia was startled, but she knew to act quickly. For a while, she was fine.

But then, after more and more encounters, each more dangerous than the previous where they barely escaped by the skin of their teeth, her confidence dwindled until she reverted back to a rather child-like state. Maia looked nearly the same age as Sally, which in mobian terms, was that of a teen nearing adulthood, but now, Bunnie wondered if Maia was more of a child than she thought.

Bunnie did not say anything, but she returned the grip and held on as she led the way.

The cavern around them seemed to darken the further they went, as if the moist walls were eating away all the light. The flashlight seemed dimmer than before as well, and the thought of it going out in the middle of this place nearly made Maia let out a whine.

'I hope we get out of here soon… Oh, darn, it's my fault. I wish I could be brave and just grab the vine before…' Maia thought, regretting her actions. 'I hope I'm not bothering Bunnie… I don't wanna bother anyone…'

Bunnie frowned at her flashlight, the slightly darker surroundings not escaping her notice. 'We have to get out of here quick,' she thought as she lengthened her stride. Maia's soft surprised gasp passed by fleetingly as Bunnie felt the wolf mobian hurry to catch up, her hand still not loosening its grip.

The beam of light darted to and fro, jungle green eyes following its movement so as to catch sight of anything that might help them out. The light skimmed the faint outline of an object and Bunnie did a double take. 'What was that?' She moved her flashlight over to the area once more and took a closer look.

To her surprise, she found a doorway, along with stairs leading up.

"Maia, look!" Bunnie alerted the wolf mobian. "I think we found the way out of here."

Maia's ears perked up from their flattened state and her tail wagged in joy.

"Let's go." Bunnie and Maia hurried over to the staircase and climbed up. The stairway was dark and seemingly endless whenever they tried to look up. However, their surroundings slowly brightened, along with their hopes.

Soon, the light glowed to a near blinding state, their eyes not used to the significantly brighter surroundings. Eyes closed and hearts beating faster than they could remember, they stepped out of the stairway and stood on the cool stone-paved floor.

Blue eyes were the first to blink open. They widened in shock and awe upon the sight bestowed. "Bunnie…you might wanna see this."

Bunnie opened her eyes and they dilated as well, for what she and Maia saw was treasure. And it was not a wooden chest that was open with gold piled up to the brim in it. No, what they saw were multiple chests in different sizes, all filled with everything from gold to precious gems. And those chests were sitting on HUGE piles of more gold, jewels and other precious artifacts.

Forget a treasure chest, this was a treasure mine!

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Maia asked, still in disbelief. "Tell me I'm not dreaming."

"You aren't sugar, unless we're having the same dream," Bunnie replied, slowly coming out of her incredulity. "Still, what's all this doing here?"

Maia shrugged; she had no clue either.

Bunnie slowly stepped forward and walked around, exploring the room. It was like a large circular dome, shafts of light falling from the holes above. There were not many and the light itself was dim, but due to all the treasure, it was as if the whole place was lit up as brightly as the outside.

There were some vines and tree roots breaking through the gaps in the brick walls and growing here and there too. The air was filled with the smell of something metallic and the distant sounds of bird calls and other wildlife coming from outside. In a way, it was a whole lot better than the cavern from before.

Bunnie soon came to another large pile of gold, one even bigger than the others. Seriously, it was like the size of a small hill, reaching nearly all the way up to the ceiling. However, this pile looked quite strange. There were gold coins and beautiful rubies, but in several places, there were spots of white, shimmering like reptilian scales. And…did the pile just move?

Nah, it was just some coins dropping down due to gravity.

"Bunnie, check this out!"

Maia's shout caught Bunnie's attention and the rabbit mobian hurried over to where Maia was. The wolf mobian was pointing at something and Bunnie's mouth went agape when she recognized the object.

It was a snakeskin, the one that got discarded whenever the snake grew too big for its own skin. However, it was very, very big and long. The width was almost that of a small tree and the length was like a long winding stream. The ghostly remnant was pale too, even paler than the moon, and they shimmered in an almost familiar manner…

Bunnie's eyes widened in realization and she turned towards the gold pile, only to see a pair of rubies blink at her. The gold coins started to shift and move, and a thought entered Bunnie's mind as she watched a tower of pale scales rising, up, up, up to the ceiling.

'Those are not rubies…they are eyes!'

And indeed, those two rubies were eyes, set against the pale serpentine face of the non-mobian albino cobra, one that was much, much larger than normal cobras. A long forked tongue slipped past scaly lips and tasted the air. Large eyes as red as the gems they were mistaken for locked onto the two mobians, and a warning hiss rented the air, followed by the cobra's spreading hood.

 _"Intruders…"_ the cobra hissed, dragging out the syllables that produced an 'S' sound. _"Why have you come here…? To steal the treasure?!"_

"N-n-no," Bunnie stuttered, struggling to regain her composure. The serpent's masculine voice was harsh and unyielding, ready to turn into sharpened daggers if she gave any indication of being a threat to the treasure. "We just want to get out of here…"

The serpent scrutinized them as he slithered forward, radiating an aura of danger. _"I scent no lies from you…"_ he hissed. _"Very well; I will let you leave. However…you are to never return to this place. Leave, and take no treasure with you. Nor would any information about this hidden temple be given away, lest I will hunt you down and devour you whole!"_

Maia rapidly nodded her head. "Yes, yes, we will never say anything about this place, let alone come back here!" she agreed quickly, her ears flat on her head and tail quivering in between her legs.

The cobra hissed and his tongue flicked once, twice and thrice. The dangerous air around the great serpent lightened slightly and he turned towards a large pile of gold. With a sweep of his tail, he pushed it away, revealing a large wall covered with carvings.

"Wait...are these...the carvings of the Serpens' Temple?" Maia asked, coming closer to inspect them. "I thought this temple was only a legend..."

 _"...It is no legend,"_ the serpent hissed, lowering his head to look at the carvings closer _. "Back in ancient times, when the echidna tribes still roamed the land, great serpents, my kin, lived in the Great Jungle, known as the Serpent's Den in olden times. We were a simple civilization, living in caves and dens we could find and feeding once every month. There were only a few of us as many more would disturb the ecosystem..."_

 _"We are quite fond of treasure, as you can see,"_ the cobra continued, gesturing towards the piles of gold in the room. _"By resting among large amounts of treasure, we were able to go on without eating or drinking for years, as I have been doing to survive... However, one day, new species of plants began to grow. They have the power to reduce anything to ash, be it gold and metal or living beings."_

'Those plants...' Bunnie's mind flashed back to the moment when Rotor placed his screwdriver on one of its leaves, only to have it disintegrated into mere ash moments later.

 _"Those plants were the downfall of my kin. We were so large that we could not avoid those patches even if we tried, and they grew faster than bamboo."_ The cobra's head shook in melancholy at the memory _. "We all went into hiding, some even leaving the Great Jungle. I was the only one left here..."_ The serpent hissed, as if to add something else before deciding against it.

Another limb decorated with the pale scales moved, reaching towards the wall. The cobra used his tail to push against a symbol engraved in the center of the carvings. As soon as he did so, concentric circles appeared, symbols engraved in each of them. With surprising dexterity, the cobra turned the circles in a rather hypnotic fashion. With each correct turn, the circles lit up.

When all were fully lighted, he pressed the center-most circle. There was a brief flash of light before glowing lines appeared from the circle, stretching out in the form of a door made up of two blocks locking together in the center like two puzzle pieces with the circular pattern as the lock. The two sides slid away from each other, revealing an exit.

 _"This will lead you outside,"_ he explained. _"Remember to keep your word, for I assure you, I will remember it,"_ he added as a last warning before slithering back into the piles of gold, his white scales hidden among the brilliant shine. But his ruby eyes still looked onward, locked onto the two mobians.

Bunnie and Maia both let out sighs of relief as they turned towards the doorway. While the treasure was pretty and all, it was essentially useless to them. What could they do with all of this? Treasure was not going to help them win the war with Robotnik, and gold was not usually a weapon material, so in conclusion, zero usefulness.

However, just as they were about to head out, a loud hiss cut through the air like a sharp knife and a shower of gold fell from above as the large cobra reared up, hissing furiously. There was a blurry outline of someone running away, a gorgeous yellow round-cut gem cradled in its hands. And the figure was headed towards Bunnie and Maia.

"What the?!" Bunnie gasped as she was pushed aside, along with Maia. In a chilling moment, Bunnie recognized the feel of the figure's hands; skin, human skin. The figure did not look back as he ran into the tunnel, leaving behind chaos in the form of an enraged serpent.

 _"Was he one of yours?!"_ the serpent hissed, too angry to wait for their answer. He thrashed about, his tail lashing here and there. The action caused the room to rumble and bricks fell from above, unstable and not strong enough to hold against the force of the large and very, very angry cobra _. "No, he smells of human... Humans! That greedy fool will know the pain of death as soon as I get my fangs sinking into his neck!"_ With that exclamation, he reared up and shot off towards the tunnel.

Bunnie gasped when she saw the door starting to close behind the snake. She reached out, trying to stop it in some way, but she was too late. The blocks slid close with a resounding thud in finality. "We have to get it open again," she told Maia as she looked around for the carving. It took a while, but Bunnie soon found it and pressed it quickly. The concentric circles appeared once more, but it was at that moment that Bunnie was stuck.

"Maia, do you remember how this thing works?" Bunnie frantically asked the gold-furred wolf.

Maia shook her head in reply, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry Bunnie. It was so strange; the circles kept moving round and round and messed up with my head or something." But a determined expression flushed the sorry look away. "Still, it wouldn't hurt to try." With that, she and Bunnie got to work on turning the circles.

It was a tedious and mind-numbingly slow process, not just from frustration at the lack of success but also due to trying to recall up the memory of how the serpent did it. It was hard though; they could only remember dregs of the memory due to its hypnotic spell, and trying to recreate it sometimes ended up with themselves being hypnotized all over again.

"This is not working," Maia finally admitted after what seemed like the umpteenth time they tried. "We can't open this thing at all."

"We'll have to find another way," Bunnie concluded as she looked around the room. For the most part, despite its aged look, it was quite sturdy. Her gaze drifted up to the roof where light fell in small beams. It would probably not be much of a problem to reach those holes, but they were too small for either her or Maia to fit through.

Before she could find another way, the door in front of them suddenly slammed open and a still-furious cobra slithered in, frustration lining every single curve of his sinuous form. _"The human escaped… And to my worst luck, he stole a rather important gemstone!"_ he hissed, shaking his head in anger. _"He escaped into the sunlight before I could capture him…"_

 _"Why didn't you chase after him?"_ Maia asked, confused. The cobra would easily catch up if he left the temple. Then again, if he did, they might be trapped for a longer time…

 _"Those plants; they have grown so much that only a narrow path now exists. And…I am albino,"_ the cobra admitted. _"I will not last long if I stay out in the sun. I can only come out at night, and that is if there are no more plants blocking my path."_ The serpent coiled around the piles of gold and laid his head on top of his body. _"I cannot retrieve the gem this way…but…"_ His ruby eyes lit up with an idea and locked onto the two mobians. _"But you two can."_

Bunnie had a foreboding feeling, but before she could refuse, the cobra hissed, ruby eyes narrowed maliciously _, "Retrieve the gem for me. If you refuse…you will know firsthand what happens to intruders that never escaped me…"_

Maia squeaked and Bunnie remained silent. They were unable to refuse if given an ultimatum as such… Even if they tried, they could not escape; the door had closed. And the other opening from which they got in was on the other side of the room and it led to a dead end either way. They would not be able to hide in the dark cavern; the serpent could track them down with its senses.

They had no choice.

"Alright, we'll help you," Bunnie agreed.

The agreement would have made the serpent settle down, but he could still smell the reluctance in their emotions, and that would not do. Reluctant people would back out as soon as they saw the chance. So…

Bunnie blinked in confusion when the cobra suddenly turned to his body and scrapped off two scales with his fangs. Dropping them among the gold, he bore his fangs over them and two drops of venom slid out. They hung precariously before falling down on top of the scales and seeping into the gold.

There was a soft hissing sound as the venom soaked the gold and the scales. Bunnie thought it was from the probably acidic properties of the venom that was making the hissing sound, but with horror, she soon realized that those hissing sounds were coming from the emerging mixture.

The venom had caused the scales and gold to meld into a white goo of sorts, and in a rather creepy fashion, the goo rose up and formed two serpentine shapes, hissing loudly.

 _"These will protect you from the dangers of the Great Jungle. The scent of my venom, my scales and the gold will ward off the plants and wild animals. They are mostly indestructible as well, but they will not do anything for the disintegrating plants. That should be enough to get you through,"_ the serpent explained as the two tiny snakes each shot up the mobians' legs to wrap themselves around their wrists.

With a click that seemed to signal a finality of sorts, the snakes bit their tails and settled snuggly.

* * *

The serpent watched as the two mobians hurried off down the tunnel, feeling satisfaction at his idea. He had not lied; those two snakes would keep them safe. However…they also doubled as…insurance.

 _"They will be in for a nasty surprise if they tried to disobey me…"_ he hissed, a smirk in his eyes.

Outside, the eyes of the snakes twinkled, seeming to share their creator's own smugness.

* * *

17/4/2017

To whoever reads A/Ns, please hear me out.

From now on, this story will not be seeing regular updates because writing is not exactly my job; it's a hobby, and until I gain enough inspiration to continue, you won't be seeing much updates here. But that does NOT MEAN that I'm giving up on this fanfiction.

Until next time.


	9. Message and epliogue

**Almost two years, give or take, since I've updated this fanfiction and said I was going to do a rewrite. And while I'm sure there are other fanfictions out there that had been on hiatus longer than me, while I would like to say that yes, I'm still continuing this and no, my real life had been such a gigantic mess that I haven't had the time to log on and upload a chapter I could have written in any free time I could get if I was really dedicated to this, I'm afraid that's not the case. So, I would like to come clean.**

 **I've lost motivation for this fanfiction, for any fanfiction really. This was meant to be more of a hobby, but I have taken it so seriously that the burn out and crash is worse than it could have been. I have made promises I can't keep, did everything in such a sloppy way that my present self is wincing at the sheer stupidity of my past self.**

 **So, I would like to apologize, to all those following and favorited the fanfiction, to those waiting for an update (I myself know how that feels, waiting for a fanfiction to update but only being disappointed when it didn't), for not coming clean soon enough, for dragging it out and making the conclusion worse. As a writer, I've failed, badly. I won't ask for your forgiveness or anything, and while most would probably see this as just some dramatic claim, as said above, I've taken this seriously.**

 **When I accepted the adoption of A Change of Heart, I promised myself that I would complete it, that I would make it great, that I would not disappoint the original author by half-heartedly doing everything. But that was exactly what I did. For that, I could only offer apologies to the author.**

 **All in all, I am sorry, for disappointing everyone with the discontinuation of this, and all of my other fanfictions.**

 **Now that that's said, here's something as an apology (and to appease those out there that would have reported me (or whatever one does when someone breaks the rules) for only putting in an author's note in as an entry).**

* * *

It is a fine day. The sky is blue, the weather clear, the birds singing and all that cliche happy day descriptions. I'm sure you don't need me to bother you guys with all that. Back to the point, yes, it is indeed a fine day...

A peaceful day that fits where I'm going right now.

I slowly fly down the hill, my twin tails spinning slower than they could. I never had the heart to rush down , and I never will. In my arms are several bouquets, and I know for sure that the others are bringing bouquets of their own.

But it is the thought that counts.

I soon arrive at my destination and take a moment to appreciate the place.

Near the bottom of the hill, carefully tucked against its side, is a small space. Tiles in soft colors of blue (tranquility), aqua (emotional healing and protection) and white (a blank canvas for the future) with small hints of yellow (a hint to joy, or at least, hope for joy) decorate the space in beautiful circular mosaic patterns. Planted in the very center is a Japanese Maple tree (I have no idea how she even found it, since such a tree doesn't exist in our world...), a symbol of balance and practicality, as she told me.

And around it...are five gravestones.

I walk on the circular path, placing a bouquet as I pass by one and taking the time to put a little prayer for each while re-reading the words inscribed on them.

'King Julius, Ruler of Mobotropolis. A wise and powerful king, a devoted husband and a caring father. May you rest in peace.'

'Queen Aleena, Ruler of Mobotropolis. A well-loved queen for, not her beauty and grace, but her kind heart. A wonderful wife and a caring mother. May you rest in peace.'

'Princess Sonia. A beautiful princess who may seems harsh but has a heart as warm as the sun. A kind daughter and the best sister. May you rest in peace.'

'Prince Manic. A prince that doesn't care for finery, but for the joy of his people. A caring son and the best brother. May you rest in peace.'

'Chuck the Hedgehog, brother to King Julius. An uncle that will forever be remembered. May you rest in peace, your sacrifice not in vain.'

I pause at that last grave and close my eyes. Uncle Chuck...he is the mobian I have heard of the most. He was the mobian that affected _him_ the most, not that the rest of his family didn't either, but it was Uncle Chuck that started the change in _his_ life, the reason behind everything that drives _him_.

"Hey there..."

I open my eyes to see Amy, Vanilla, Cream and Cheese. They each have a bouquet of their own, and I step aside to let them place the flowers down. For a moment, there is silence, as they all murmur a small prayer for the hedgehog they never saw, but knew of.

"Is he taking this well?"

I smile at that and nod in reply. "It hasn't been easy the first times around, but he's coming through, mostly thanks to Shadow."

Vanilla smiles as well and we all take a minute to bask in the aura of solemn peace and content. Everything about this place shows that peace and that hope, hope for a happier future. She really pulled out all the stops to make this for _his_ family...but I know, that it is also for _him_. He had been haunted and driven by _his_ family's death for so long that I hope this will also help _him_ find _his_ inner peace.

* * *

As Tails and the others left the graves, there were a few seconds before another mobian dropped down from the maple tree. He gazed at the bouquets and closed his eyes. There was no smile on his muzzle, but no one could deny that calm and content aura around him, so different from his usual chaos.

"Sonic."

Closed eyes opened again. "Shadow," Sonic replied, not needing to look around the tree to know that the other was also leaning against the trunk.

"Knuckles and Rouge sent their own condolences."

Sonic closed his eyes again. "There is no need for that. It happened a long time ago..."

"But that doesn't mean they don't care."

"...I know."

A sudden burst of warmth against his side had him looking at the black hedgehog coming to rest next to him. "It has been quite a lot... with all that had happened. For a while, after you told me, I had a hard time believing it... Coming from another dimension where you were a prince of all things, the Resistance, the fight against that dimension's Robotnik and your coming here...the events that passed by, when you take the time to just step back and look at it all..."

"This is a first," Sonic chuckled. "You're usually the less-spoken one among the two of us."

He didn't have to look to know that Shadow was slightly exasperated. "I'm serious here."

"And so am I," Sonic retorted.

"..."

"I'll be fine Shadow."

"You better be. I didn't save you from the Metarax just so that you can end your life again."

"..." That was a topic that had been brought up frequently between the two in the past when the action was still recent. It had caused some conflicts between them, but Sonic couldn't find it in himself to start again.

For once, he felt peace, breathing in the soft scents of the flowers, the grass, the tree and basking in the ambience.

They didn't know exactly how long they stood there, but the sun was starting to fall from its zenith by the time Sonic pushed himself off the trunk. Shadow followed suit and for the first time, ruby met emerald.

No words needed to be shared between the two as Shadow left while Sonic took one last look around the graves. Before, he would have stood vigil over them for nearly three whole days, but now, he found it easier to leave, easier to rest his grief and anger, and find acceptance. The next year, he would come again, and this time...maybe he could finally talk to them with a smile on his face.

* * *

 **(Basic explanation, read if you wish.**

 **I planned on Sonic hopping dimensions, after defeating Robotnik from Sonic Underground with the Resistance from Sonic SatAM, to the world Sonic lived in in Sonic X, and the rest of the story pans out from there. Shadow, surviving the ARK disaster with both Maria and Gerald, arrived at Sonic X's world before meeting Sonic himself in Chris' world. You can imagine the differences that had happened then.**

 **In this AU, Sonic and Shadow had that same antagonistic relation (maybe at a lighter level) before events with the Meterax changed it into friendship (not that rivalry respect thingy they have going on), and the reference to Shadow saying 'so that you can end your life again' is when instead of Shadow getting Sonic out of the way when the Meterax egg exploded, it was the other way around. But Shadow managed to save Sonic instead and found out that it had been both to save Shadow and an intentional suicide. Of course, things got ugly for a bit between the two after that admission, but as you can see, they have settled it...fairly well...)**

 **Now, that's the END. I won't get your hopes up with more continuation.**

 **But I won't be deleting this fanfiction, and it will be listed as 'incomplete' still (I don't deserve that completed status).**


End file.
